Annotations for Speaker: Participant

"I consent, uh, on the form and to be audio recorded." [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]

Ok, I was born here in a farmhouse, about a mile from this location. Uh, and I grew up here, uh, I went to high school here and then I left after that, uh, to teach in Texas City in [UPPER GULF COAST REGION] and head back to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION]. And then when I became a mother and had children, I came back here to teach. So I have lived here, most of my life.

Then or now? [PAUSE] [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]

Okay, [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] uh, [COMMUNITY NAME] was a very small town, [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] it was an agricultural town dependent upon the crops that were then sold. Uh, and uh,[BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]when, I- there were 13 in my graduating class, the community, uh, population for [COMMUNITY NAME], [COMMUNITY NAME] was not a city until 1965. So it's a relatively new city, but it's an older village. And, um, um, so it's, uh, it's changed significantly, uh, and I- I think that's what you're here to talk about is the change.

Yes

[SOUND OF AC AND CONSTRUCTION] Well, um, first of all, uh, in- in the early years, women did not work outside the home, they were the homemakers, they raised their children, and uh- uh the men were mostly all in agriculture. And then you had a few people in the, uh, little village that were the banker, or the mercantile, or the drugist, which was like a pharmacy. Um, then with the, uh, Chamber of Commerce, when- when, things started happening in [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY NAME], [COMMUNITY NAME] is very close to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY NAME]. So when IRS, the US government, uh, Internal Revenue Service came to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY NAME], some women started working in [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY NAME], the [TEXAS UNIVERSITY NAME], they would go there to work. And that was when it started evolving into two families to support, um, the, um the family. And then when IBM, uh, came on [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY AREA LOCATION], that was another significant boost for [COMMUNITY NAME] because it was located on the north side of [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY NAME], [ CONSTRUCTION NOISE] And, uh, uh again, that was a location that, uh, many of the, the women went to work. Uh, then the chamber kind of ,uh, transformed in recent years, probably about, uh, a decade ago, uh, that, uh, live here, work here. Okay, so instead of being a commuter, uh, city, where people would go someplace to work, the, the thought process was to develop jobs live here, work here, play here. And so that's what, uh, it has transformed into, uh, also. Uh, uh, even as much as a grocery store. Uh, I can remember where every new HEB was one was at [COMMUNITY SHOPPING CENTER], okay,[CENTRAL REGION CITY COMMUNITY CENTER], then [ANOTHER NEIGHBORING CITY] got an HEB and, uh, then even as far out of [CENTRAL COMMUNITY REGION CITY NAME] start growing out to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION'S CITY AREA LOCATION] was the safe way. And so it was a big deal when HEB finally came to [COMMUNITY NAME] that we can actually shop here for our groceries. And of course, uh, uh Walmart was the, uh on, [COMMUNITY AREA LOCATION] was kind of the, um, magnet that then transformed where we started getting other, uh corporate, um, entities like, you know, eventually we would get Target, Home Depot, Best Buy and those things. So now you can actually shop here. Uh, so you can live here, your work, shop here, play here, and you can do everything within [COMMUNITY NAME].

Yes

Yes

[SIGHS], I, One of the, uh,one of the things as [COMMUNITY NAME] began to grow, it was noted as a small town with a family feeling where everybody was welcome. And there was a lot of unity. Um, as the town grew the community grew, uh, that was something that was perpetuated volunteerism and family involvement. Uh, and that that has continued for a while. I think that's where we're struggling today. I don't know that it's,uh, a second thing other than the family feeling is our trail system, where, uh, people could live here, they could walk the trails, uh, and and there was a community feeling of-of everybody just being together. Uh, And yet it had the proximity, that if you want it the big, uh, fine arts things are, uh, venues or events, you are close enough to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY], you were close enough to the lakes, that you can still enjoy that part of Texas. Uh, but I think, um, uh, with the growth that comes with any community, when you go from, um, as I said earlier, two or 300 people to 1500 people to 20,000 and now we're at 80,000, you began to lose some of that, uh, unity and, uh, identity, I guess, uh, there was a very strong identity of [COMMUNITY NAME] of being, you know, family friendly, uh, and welcoming and volunteers and everybody did things together.

That I think that is true, that we, um, uh, are our togetherness, are celebrating as a community, knowing one another, and connecting and making things happen. And of course, along with the growth, I think the pandemic impacted that, uh, togetherness, because even, um, I go back to one of the,uh, there was only one church in town, the [COMMUNITY CHURCH], it just celebrated its 150th anniversary. And from that church, uh,the [COMMUNITY CHURCH], um, [COMMUNITY CHURCH], which is basically a black church, uh, African Americans, they like to be called the colored people back 30,50 years to ago. But that was a spin off And then [COMMUNITY CHURCH] they would meet and then, so but today, we have, um, probably like in our school district, we have nearly 90 different languages that are spoken. And with that we also have many different houses of faith. And, uh-uh, so, uh, we used to a-a have them a a council of pastors, that they would come together and have a, you know, an annual Thanksgiving circus, we don't do that anymore. So the connecting, you know, among us, and when you connect and network, that's how you become stronger, uh, to serve whatever the needs are of the total community.

Uh, I think the, uh, leaders of those groups, uh, I think it has to be, that's one of the things I'm going to work on this summer, uh, is to try to reach out to, we did do a walk to Calvary, and invited the congregations we have probably about 200 people that walk with us from the [COMMUNITY CHURCH], to the [COMMUNITY CHURCH] through the trail. And so that was again, bringing different people together. We didn't know each other, but we walked together and we sang together. Uh, so I'm, I'm hoping to maybe get something going like a gospel sing or something in the park. But uh, I think, uh, we have a, uh, I'm on the school board too. We have the school district, the big field, which could be a community gathering place to have um, not as not a secular, uh, or- or specific religion, but have an event where, um, people could know what the different groups are, uh, showcased the different cultures, whatever, those kinds of things, but it takes, it takes resources, both, uh, human resources to plan it, and monetary resources to fund it. And then to get the people to be involved. But I think we have right now so many new people and they're just there and again, part of it's from the pandemic where they're not necessarily community oriented, they're just simply themselves and work related. Okay. And then whatever their joy is, you know, uh, so it's not necessarily building. They're not community builders yet, and we need to find a way to bring more community builders and to whatever we got.

That's true. And people like to say that is one of the strengths.

Because I've been on, uh, uh, with [COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY], the, um, strategic planning. And I think when, uh, new companies and new people look for a place to live or work, that they see that in [COMMUNITY NAME], I think the result of that, though, is we have the workplace, and we have the schools, but how are we more? Make community it's unity and community. And, um, um, I-I don't, I don't feel that I feel like our quality of life has, It's not like it was before. Uh, You know, traffic is awful. Um, you don't feel like, you know people would like when we used to go to HEB, even five years ago, it was like a meeting place. You saw everybody who knew. Now I go into HEB. Anybody I know or don't have any relationships,

and that's part of life. I think that's one, but I grew up in a different generation where that was important. And so I think maybe today, it doesn't matter to people, [INAUDIBLE] [AC NOISE

Yes

Yes

Uh, Well, I do tooth, I do several things [Laughs]

I-I am,uh, again, with, a, I am an arganist at the church, so I, uh, relate, to the that group of people, and they're all generations from small to, you know, youth to 98 years old. So, I relate to all generations and and feel comfortable talking about. As a school board trustee that goes beyond just the city because the school district is like 96 square miles, as opposed to the city, which itself, the city has 80,000. But people and the school district probably has somewhere between 250 300,000 now. Okay, so, uh, trying to be a listen to the stakeholders, whether their parents or their business people or thier the teachers, the workforce, uh, what-what's happening, who's coming to town? uh, that's important, I think, for the school to know that. But, uh, uh, again, from the workforce thing, it's-it's changing significantly. Because, again, as I, uh, said, with the volunteers, another component was the school was the core, everybody went to school activities. That's how [COMMUNITY NAME]'s name was promoted throughout the state and our students going nationally to competitions, they would know where [COMMUNITY NAME] is, okay. Now, uh, and we used to be a fast growth district, you know, from one high school to four high schools,uh, we now have 35, 36 campuses. But what's happening is now, uh, with there's a changing paradigm on public education, and, um, so that is a, uh, wha, uh, beyond our control, and we have charter schools that are coming in. And so that is again, separating community, because when we were the only district, people within their neighborhoods would go to that school, be in the PTO, go to the Little League games, um, you know, etc. And know one another and do whatever. And when you have the charter schools are, uh, there's not that many private schools, there's a few, but the homeschooling then that house, you have a different groups and they don't interconnect, so that we're losing that unity. And again, one of the strengths of our community has been, uh, a good school system academically and with extracurricular activities, because we've always promoted, uh, excellence in whatever we do. So our students, whether they're in debate are if they are in athletics, or fine arts span, uh, theater of whatever they're doing, even from elementary school to spelling bee, you know, they do and they excel, and we need to, uh, amplify that and, uh, let our community know that good things are happening.

Yes. I am an elected official, as on the school board.

I'm the organist is what I'm paid to do on Sundays and during the week.

That's how I get

the bread and butter because on when you're serving on the school board or city council, that's volunteer. No money. It's just a lot of time.

Yeah

So you put in 20 or 25 hours a week on the school, but you don't get paid for that.

Yeah

Well, I taught school, high school chemistry, physics, German, [PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND] all the math classes, computer science. [COUGHS]

[COUGHS] That's okay. Um, and then I retired after 38 years of teaching. And, uh, again, you have seven people on the school board. And so there was an, o, one, one person resigned or retired. And nobody, I, nobody else was running. So somebody said, "Why don't you run," and so that was, I've now and probably the longest serving trustee ever. Uh, this is my 21st year to be

on the board. So I saw again, the board grow and, um, and change and things changed, you know, um, say dress code has changed how teachers teach [PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND] change, how discipline is administered has changed. So,um, that's, that's been very, uh, intriguing, rewarding, challenging, and a lot of critical decisions that are really hard.[PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND]

At, on the school board?

21 years, yes.

You, you have elections every three years and um so

and your community has to elect you

Okay. You don't just get it.

You have to go out and campaign. And sometimes that's interesting, too.

Okay, uh, well realize I'm a 82 years old. So that's a different than most people.

So I get up early, you know, six o'clock, seven o'clock, and filter through what I have to do for the day, and, uh also live on farm yet our out in the country. So like this last week of MP, picking plums, or I'm doing my gardening, uh, but then I checked my emails, again, to see what's going on in school. If there's anything that needs to be done, then I have to think about, you know, um the policies, uh, if we get regular updates on things that might be happening with safety and security. Uh, But usually, um, that's an issue, like tonight, I'll have a four hour meeting starting. I need, it starts at five, you have to be there ahead of time, prepare, and it'll be a four hour meeting. Uh, and then you have to do continuing at but then, um, um, so that's, that's the, and then I have family, that family is still very important. I have children and grandchildren. So I spend time and then I think, again, a result of the pandemic is seeing, um, uh the loneliness of particularly of older people. Uh, So I have kind of another group that I tried to stay in touch with whether I call them, email, go visit, like today, I'm having lunch with a 95 year old lady, you know, and she was in the high tech industry in [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY], before she retired, but, um, to nurture and encourage is, a- a big part of my day.

That's right, right, I have to make my list. And it's I do not watch TV, except for the evening news to see what's the weather gonna do and who won, the girls lost last night [SAD] [TEXAS UNIVERISTY NAME]

Yeah

Yes

Well, it, when you are a trustee, that means you, someone's entrusting their children, into the schools. And so I, it's, uh, important to me, because again, as a mother, as a teacher, grandmother, and just loving all of the children 26,000 nearly now, they are all each so special, but their parents have aspirations, and you want to prepare them for the next day, or today and tomorrow. And so everybody has different priorities. But for me, uh, again, because [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] of my journey, um, I realized that the basic education we have to teach the four core things of history, science, english and math, and uh, the extracurricular activities are important, but they're not the major thing. They help you develop, but how many people are going to pursue playing the trumpet for the rest of their life, or their part in the musical or um, their captain of the football team, or tennis, those are so valuable because I did the same thing in high school, I was, um, on a basketball team varsity from ninth to 12th grade. And so it develops the character and the discipline and responsibility. If I would love to see a policy where every child in secondary school has to belong to something, whether it's a club, or an activity of some sort, because it's what's beyond the academics. But if we falter on the academics, then shame on us, we have not done what we need to do for that child, even though the child doesn't want to do it. And even though the parents might say, This is too hard, you have to stretch. And that's the I don't know, I think that's the important thing. I think, I, uh, public education is so vital for our country, and for the individual.

Right

Well, yes, uh I would say again, like, uh for the my arganist, oh, my goodness, May the 26th or 150th, I had, um, a brass quintet to come from the [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY MUSIC BAND] to play with the argon. And that was just heavenly. Uh, but music is something that, uh, gives me, uh, it, it it's just joyous. It fills your soul when when you have to deal with everything else that's going on. The music is kind of the the, the therapy, it's wonderful. Uh, the other side with the trustees, like we just had graduation, so 1800s or 2000, children, walking the stage, getting their diploma going out into the real world, what are they going to do, and they're gloating on the graduation, which is good. But they will be challenged within a few months when they step [PHONE RINGING] onto that college campus or into their first job. Because a lot of them have not even had a job [PHONE RINGING] to know they have to listen to a boss. Okay, and that you have to stay on the job from 8-5, you can't just, "Oh, I'm tired. Now I need to go home," you know, that kind of thing. So that the joy really for the trustee is seeing them from Kinder graduation, to their field day, to their spelling bee to whatever they happen to be doing is just marvelous. It it just is fulfilling.

Yes

Yes

Right

And that goes back to, uh, people who are forgotten, what the word vacation means, people think, well, I need to enjoy my job to do it. Sometimes you don't, there is very rare that your job is going to be perfect from 8-5. Okay, but that's why you have vacations because that's your getaway. Okay, you take it and you get away and then you have to come back renewed, rejuvenated and revitalized.

Mhmm

Well, right now, I would say again, with the school board, uh, is the funding, getting enough money to do all of the things that you would like to do that you know, would be good for the students, we had to, well, we've had to cut a lot of programs. That means like kickstart, or we have to cut, um, um tutorials or things. So it's putting a lot of responsibility onto parents to step up. And for the student to be responsible, and to work harder. Um, And we've um, advocated, we've gone to the state capitol, to our legislators to talk about how, um, funding is so important. Uh, because again, with the pandemic, uh, in the mindset of, uh, I would, I would say it's the pandemic, but it could be the mindset of different cultures too, I don't know that I haven't investigated, but it's like, oh, "I don't feel like going to school today. So therefore, I'm gonna stay at home." Or "I have one little trickle and, you know, I'm kind of cold, I can't go," okay. When they don't go we don't get money. So that means we have to cut programs are even and it's across the board. It's not just people always focus on the economically disadvantaged or certain groups. This is across the board with your middle class and people who do have money. They'll say, "Oh, well, we can take our kids out of school today and go on vacation, because they're smart enough they're gonna catch up anyways." Well, that's good for them, but it's impacting what we can do, and that's, um, that's probably the biggest challenge. The other thing, uh, other than money that is happening right now is so many, uh, the workforce, teachers are leaving teaching. And, um, when I like to talk to people, as you're investigating and doing research, we don't really know exactly why. But the more you talk and get an exit interview, it's not the salary. It's the student discipline, and the parents that are just, uh giving, you know, they can't teach, they're more like babysitters. And it's, it's, we've got, I don't know how we swing that back, you know, uh because it's, but thankfully, you know, we have the students who will excel and the supportive parents who do make it happen. And it's a team, I always call it like a tripod, it used to be called a milk stool, three prongs, you have, you have the school, the student and the parent, and if they can all be, again, united are on the same page working towards the same goal rolling together, then you're going to have success. But if you lose one of those pegs to that chair, you know, and there's a lot of mental illness that's going on right now. And part of that, again, is um, uh the family unit, uh, the supportive thing with extended, whether it's your religious community supporting you, or our community, again, at large, you know, we've talked about, you know, the networking, you know, when you have aunts and uncles, or you have neighbors, or you have a a group of friends, but if they're on a certain channel, you know, think tank you, you lose some synergy and energy,

Yes

Sure

Yes

[CLEARING THROAT AND COUGHS]

I'm sorry?

Yes, that would be good. Thank you. I don't know when I'll need it, but,

Sometimes when I talk to too much. [OPENING WATER BOTTLE SOUND]

Yes, four

Four

The third one equally important.

Uh, Probably three.

One

[DRINKS WATER] Well am at a disadvantage because I do speak English. So I can't really answer from that perspective. But I would probably I would hope it would be a two or three. So, um, let's say hopefully it's a three.

Most of the time it does work, hopefully.

Uh, one, they've changed significantly [LAUGHS]

Well, I've written four books and five, after I retired from teaching, and they were all on [COMMUNITY NAME] with pictures, etc. So, um, again, what has changed significantly? Okay. Uh, obviously roads and transportation because roads used to go by property lines, and they were narrow, and the farmers could take their equipment on the roads, and manage. What's happened now as the farmers have been pushed out, there are no farmers around anymore. Okay, there's just, they can't even move their equipment on the road. Uh-uh, I think we talked about the, um, uh-uh the number of shops here used to there was not that you would have the town of party years ago, it had, um, probably three, they called them beer joints or saloons, okay, places, and then you have the post office and you had the bank. And then you had, um, that was about maybe a hairdresser. So anything that you wanted to purchase beyond that, uh in the first big, the Circle C see was the first one, not a Circle K. But it's where the uh [COMMUNITY STREET NAME], that was a big thing when it came because that was the first convenience store. So it was open nearly all hours. Uh, another thing that happened was in downtown [COMMUNTIY NAME], the current Shell Station kind of across from the fire department, when that came in, it was attrusive, it was just so big with all the lights, I can remember when that was the first signal light, right there, you know, red, green, or whatever it because there were no lights so, uh, and the change is today, if you try to drive by HEB with [COMMUNTIY STREET NAME] and [COMMUNITY STREET NAME] , the new design, people get so confused, there's have been some wreck. So transportation has changed, and our shopping has changed. Uh, and, again, um-uh, knowing people, you know who make the decisions and just knowing people, it's it's, uh it that's changed significantly. They have the neighborhood night out, which started probably again, uh, as the town grew in the last probably 20 years. And so at least neighborhoods attempt to get together, but I don't in the, you know, our police forces expanded significantly, because with more growth comes more investigations and security is important and crimes. You know, uh, we've had several big crimes that were you know, [COMMUNITY NAME] for I'll never, it was like a black eye, you know, like the bomber, or if you remember that about three years ago, the bomber actually lived in [COMMUNITY NAME], when he you know that they, they were they couldn't figure out who was doing all of that. And it was like crazy. You know that? Nobody knew that that could even happen here. Nobody knew the person. And he had been in the barber shop here and live close to the [COMMUNITY CLUB]

Yeah

So, uh, yeah, and then our fire department is not part of this city. It was a volunteer fire- fire department. In other words 40 years ago again, um, that was, uh, [LAUGHS] everybody knew everybody and knew what was going on. You would find out things about your own children when you went to the bank, you know, that they were doing this? Oh, really? Okay. So that that has been a big change. Uh, also our little creek [COMMUNITY CREEK NAME] that all the trails are by, that was one of the thing that, uh, uh turned me in, I've always been an activist. Okay, so when [COMMUNITY CREEK NAME] was declared by TCEQ the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to be a, uh, a contaminated stream. Hey, that's where we used to swim. We had boat races

with our little, you know, duck races, and so, uh compliance, you know, to things and and now we have dog bark parks, you know, and the doggie bag, so that that hopefully helps keep so clean community. Water has been a big issue in the last 40 years because if our leaders did not see the, uh to create [COMMUNITY LAKE NAME], which means that we were we were dependent upon groundwater one well, once upon a time, it was stinky with sulfur water if you took chemistry you didn't know that. But it was the [COUGHS] that's only water we had, we were thankful. But, uh, [DRINKS WATER] the city created, um, [COMMUNITY LAKE], with a partnership with the LCRA, Lower Colorado River Authority, so that that has been a water source. And then secondly is, uh [CLEARS THROAT] because [DRINKS WATER] people did not have water they dependent upon rain collection. Um, in the 70s, the, um, Manville Water Corporation was formed with the help of the federal government. Manville got its name because it was a conjunction between [NEIGHBOOR COMMUNITY] and [COMMUNITY NAME], two communities that came together to form this Water Corporation. And so they now have wells, of all the way from uh [CLEARS THROAT] nearly [GREATER NORTH AUSTIN NEIGHBOOR COMMUNITY] which is in part of [GREATER NORTH AUSTIN NEIGHBOOR COMMUNITY] , [COMMUNITY NAME] city limits, okay, [LAUGHS] you would'nt know. And then it goes all the way down to the rivers. So that's

Right

Mhmm

Another significant change that's just happened in the last three to four years. And it's magnified, is used to it was a bedroom community. That meant you had neighborhoods, you had neighborhood associations. And now with the developers coming in with all of the multi housing that used to be called apartments, but that that's a changing paradigm that I don't think we have a handle on yet. Because the pe, again, those people don't necessarily get involved in community. And they're very mobile. And so that the same thing is, from the school point of view, we will always educate any child that comes through the door of our school. But when you ha-, if people have a home, they usually stay here, they become involved in the community. If our students are here, from K through 12, we kind of know where they are and how they're doing and how they can amplify [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]. Uh, If they come in through an, uh you know, again, the multi housing, they might be here for two months, two years, forever, we don't know. But they're coming and go, they're more mobile. And so that presents another a component that we have to identify and work with, to be sure we get their transcript, see where the, uh holes are in our education, and move on. Uh, and I think, uh uh, when you do that, you also, when you have neighborhoods you have, um you know, you have a neighborhood watch. If something's going on neighbors talk to one another. Uh, when you get into the multi housing, that's, that's that's a different culture.

Yeah

[Thinks] I would like to say, uh okay, in 1978, I had to make the decision for moving from [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY] to [COMMUNITY NAME]. I wanted a place to raise my children. Okay. And so when I looked at the farmland, and I looked at the community, that family feeling, and the good school system, and easy transportation, my husband would commute to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION COMMUNITY] to work, but then I could work here. So it was a destination for families. If I were a young family today, and we're looking at [COMMUNITY NAME], I would have to question I would have to ponder, you know, are those schools what I want is their unity and community and the availability of the things that I need. [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] Because what I'm seeing now is people who have lived here for a while, if they can sell their property, they're moving to the outside, uh, smaller communities, because that was the kind of life that they had desired. Another big change, I will say, and this is global now, okay, it's not just community. But [COMMUNITY NAME] was, uh, my- my [CHAIR SOUND] ancestors were the [COMMUNITY ANCESTOR NAME]. Okay. So they came from [EUROPEAN COUNTRY NAME] emigrated, didn't know the language didn't know the call the-the to raise crops [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] that they became farmers. And so the [COMMUNITY PRAIRE], everybody who goes through Texas schools has to take Texas geography and I think middle school I don't know if you did that in seventh or eighth grade, you had to take.

Geography, okay, so there's a part of Texas it's called the [COMMUNITY PRAIRE NAME] and National Geographic identified that is the most fertile land on Earth.

So what we are doing today in [COMMUNITY NAME], is where the [COMMUNITY PRAIRE] is vanishing. It's being covered with concrete and asphalt. So we have a natural resource that is disappearing. But again, technology and the new thinking through A&M , probably, you know, instead of farmers putting their crops in soil, they're building warehouses and doing hydro, uh, Yes. So there's, uh, new things are evolving. So it's a changing paradigm. And that's why the generations of today in educating people, uh we, uh, go forward. And I can remember,[LAUGHS] a again, what I mentioned when we had our 150th. On that land, people came on their horses, so you had a hitching rail, or they had to tie their horses that evolve to Model T's, to fast forward to today's world where you have SUVs, the round pickup trucks, and you have EVs. Okay, that's very different.

Uh-uh

Well, uh, for me, okay, I remember that I'm several generations back, I grew up on the farm, so number one, is I had to work from the beginning, uh, out in the fields, chop cotton hoe cotton, um, haul hay, corn. All of the groups I had to take care of you got up in the morning, you had chores, you had to milk the cow. In the afternoon, you had to gather the eggs. Uh, and then in the wintertime, you, um, you butchered your uh pigs or your beef because that was your food, you didn't go to the grocery store to get, you bake your bread. Okay, so when we had, going to church, going to school was a big deal. That was important, because that's when we got to see other children and play with other children. So that was really good. Uh, and then with my own children for their childhood, I wanted them to again, be involved in things. So they were in Four H, and FFA Future Farmers of America. So they they raised like uh, a steer our a lamb, our chickens, uh etc. We didn't do pigs because I did pigs, and I didn't want to do pigs again. So that and then like for us, uh, to read books, even. We didn't have a library in [COMMUNITY NAME]. So the bookmobile from [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY NAME] came about once a month, and we could check out books, it would stop. We knew what time it was coming, and it would stop and we would go and get our books and check them out. And that's how we would read and that was, that was a big deal.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Well, that's true. And also the things, uh, that they learn. They're, uh, you know, you learn to solve problems, you learn to deal with death. Because, you know, you might have a chicken or a dog or a calf that has an illness, we didn't have veterinarians, so you have to deal with, uh, you-you-you-you learn that life is a journey. And it's not gonna to always be wonderful and smooth and sweet and happy. But you you learn to that's why you have community, you know, because community would come together and you had celebrations, like the first Deutschen Fest in [COMMUNITY NAME] was in 1976 when Ronald Reagan was president United States. And he said every community in America needs to celebrate the bicentennial of the USA. So [COMMUNITY NAME]s response to that was the Deutschen Fest. And so that was a parade and everybody the kids fixed up their bicycles and their wagons and

Those that rode horses, you know, and then we had floats. We even had a Miss Deutschen Fest contest for the teenage girls with the swimsuit and the evening gown, you know, uh, and talent and uh, all of those things. We don't do any of that anymore. It's gone. So if I-I think it's what your values are, again, as a parent for raising your children when you asked the earlier question, if I was a parent, I think because of my background of what I would want for my children, [PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND] I'm not sure that I would choose, but I think today's parents probably have different things. But, um, you mentioned the the, uh, technology with the children today and see that's, I go back to my job now. You know, I, uh, I really ponder whether we should some school districts are moving in this direction about limiting cellphones in the school, so that they can re [PEOPLE LAUGHING IN THE BACKGROUND] focus on their, when you're a student, that is your "work," you should be devoted and dedicated, kind of that 8-5, which you're going through now. At least with school, it should be 9-2, that your student right now you can do this after school, but not during school?

Yeah

Yes, Yes, right.And I don't know that the people value history, because another thing that I did after I retired from teaching is, uh-uh, I did like for nonprofits [INAUDIBLE]. And one of them was the [COMMUNITY MUESEUM NAME] here in [COMMUNITY NAME], where we tried to capture the history. And that's what, uh, then I took some of what I [PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND] got off and put into books, the then and now. Uh, And the last book I did was in 2015, when the city was 50 years old, from 19 2000, 1965 to 2015. And it's really nearly ready for another book, but I can't do it. [LAUGHS] But in the last nine years, there has been another evolution of change. And that's, that's again, I'm not saying I think it's good. You know, it's just the way things are. But we are no longer at the [COMMUNITY NAME] we once were, but we are a [COMMUNITY NAME] that's recognized. And with the work that's been done here at [COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION], attracting, um, you know, the different developments. But the big question, again, is, how is the county and the city supplementing to keep the quality of life? That's, that's the question that needs to be addressed. And that's not [COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION]'s job. That's the leadership, you know, um, [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]

I don't know. I-I-I think it's bygone Because I don't really see, I-I don't think this generation or people right now are really interested in history. I mean, you can go back to US history, or Texas history and Travis County history, Austin history and [COMMUNITY NAME] history, how many people are really, really interested in it, they're really, again, on their phones they're interested in what's, what they're going to wear or where they're going to go or what they're going to eat? You know, it's, um and I do [CLEARS THROAT] another course that world history was one of those where you studied what the Romans did, what the British did, what happened in China, those kinds of things, you learn from exper- uh,we learn from our experiences, but I think so much of history is now lost, [PEOPLE TALKING IN THE BACKGROUND] [CONSRTUCTION NOISE]that we will be making the same mistakes that we should have learned from whether it was centuries ago, decades ago or days ago.

Okay.[LAUGHS]

Woah, uh, well, uh, [OPENS WATER BOTTLE] I would say I, on sports you're probably going for professional sports, and I used to be, um, Spurs and Cowboys. But again when all of the political stuff started happening with a professional athletes, I tuned it out because I did not they were there to play the game. They were not there to get involved in politics and social issues. Uh, so I kind of stepped back down and my favorite sports is high school. I like to see our kids playing, you know, and I will go to their events whether it's basketball, volleyball, don't do golf, but um softball, whatever that the that's uh. So, but again, I-I would say in my past life when it was it was [TEXAS UNIVERSITY NAME] football and basketball and girls basketball, and then, uh, the Spurs and the Cowboys.

Um, very little. I mean, like now it's the NBA playoff time. You know, and I love basketball, but I-I don't know, I just, it-it turns me off that they get into the social issues and political issues. I just, uh, there the it-it, when they do that it's I know they're amplifying their beliefs, which they have a right to do. But I think that it causes disunity on a bigger scale. [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] Uh, and that's why we're, um, you know, we-we, instead of having a conversation, like you and I are now it becomes more of a debate and nearly, uh-uh you know, i-i-it, emotions start coming in.

And I-I, I like to try to be rational and understand, and then I embrace different points of view. But don't put your viewpoints on me. And I'm not going to put my view, we can talk about what we each think and respect that highlight, you know, but, um, you know, we're going to be different, but we can still go forward with some common pillars.

Right

Oh yes

Yes, I was the oldest child. And even though, uh, like, I've done something similar to this, maybe 10 or 12 years ago with uh, a student from [TEXAS UNIVERSITY NAME], it was on a different topic, but it was like, how do you as a woman function in a man's world?

Okay. And they were experience, they thought they were experiencing discrimination. And I think, again, my upbringing, because I was the oldest one in my family. So I was my dad's hard worker, I-I plowed with mules, I did tractor, and my cousins were male. So I was brought, and I played baseball and football with them. So it was not a it's not a deal to me to confront a, um, an executive that's male. And I they don't intimidate me.

The worst chore? Um, Okay, you know how hot it is outside?

Okay. So we would, we had to, um, we called it chop cotton, we have to get rid of the weeds, you would call it probably waiting. [CONTRUCTION NOISE] So we would get up at four o'clock in the morning, you didn't have daylight savings time. And we would work from about 4 till 10 or 11. And then it got so hot. And then we would go back out about four o'clock. So we didn't have shoes, barefooted on the hot soil. And, uh, it was, that was that was my incentive to go to [TEXAS UNIVERISTY NAME]. And I was valedictorian of my class. And I knew that I did not want to do those chores, the rest of my life. That's what a lot of people did. And I thought, I'm gonna get an education and do something different.

And I, I wanted to get out of [COMMUNTY NAME] when I was a senior, and I thought, okay, I was, I didn't even know what it was going to do. But I thought I went, the airlines were just starting up in [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY NAME]. I wanted to be a stewardess because then I could fly all over the world, right?

Well, people talk about discrimination. But I experienced that too, because I could not even go to stewardess school, because I was too short. You had to be 5'6, 5'7 You had to be a tall girl.

to go

No, that's changed. [LAUGHS] But I mean, even like with teachers, things have changed. We had dress codes for teachers. You could not wear slacks. [BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] You had to wear a dress, you know? And if when they finally started letting us wear slacks on Friday on a maybe once a month or once a year. They had to be dressed slacks and then went to went to even jeans. Had to have a belt. Uh, so it was yeah,[BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE] it was difficuly.

That I didn't mind so much? [SIGHS AND THINKS] Well, I mean, I had to do everything like we because the drought was so severe and 57, the farmers could not,[BACKGROUND CONSTRUCTION NOISE]there were no crops. So we my dad improvised and we had 1000 chickens then and so we had to, uh, pick up the eggs every day. And we took them to [CENTRAL TEXAS REGION CITY NAME]. And so one of the places that we had a grocery store on with was 19th street that's now [TEXAS UNIVERSITY STREET NAME] south of campus. And we would take cartons of eggs we would have to candle the eggs, wash the eggs, in a egg washer. And we took took it to ST. David's hospital. But even you've heard the story about [NAME OF THE PERSON WHO SHOT PEOPLE] in the tower when he shot people,

okay, that was a tragic day. Okay, so we were delivering eggs at the grocery store when that was happening. So you know, it was a little fearful because with his scope, we were in proximity. [AC SOUND] But now it-it was, you know, you milk the cow and the cow would kick them out bucket over, that- that was awful, you know? So, and then all of the canning of beets and making sauerkraut. Um, I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore.

[THINKS] No, because back then, it was if your parents told you something, you did it. Because there was also, like my father never spanked me or whipped me. But my mother had a wooden spoon.

And if you didn't do which was supposed to she would threaten you with that wooden spoon. And so, uh-uh, uh yeah, insane thing is cool. Have fun. You know, they had the board, quote, the Board of Education, that if you were sent to the principal's office, you would hear the principal's spanking the children. The child. Mostly they were boys, you know, because boys are boys. They're, they're-

going to do things. So, um, yeah, um, now, I don't- I don't remember not doing anything cuz I was pre- I was an obedient child. That's great. Yeah. So the next question, if you don't feel comfortable answering it, you don't have to. But some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. What do you think? To be friends?

[DRINKS WATER] No, uh, Oh, I was, uh-uh friendly with. You had friends. I mean, we had everybody was friendly. Again, being in a small school. You had to get along, you know, so you had best friends. And then you had just friends, you know? Uh, But, uh yeah, I had. And I don't know if you're talking about dating friends, if that was where the question was going?

Okay, uh, well, pretty much, uh, like in school. You didn't [THINKS] You had school dances, okay. Nobody taught you to dance. You just watch somebody and you did it. So you would go to a school dance in the boys would sit on one side and the girls would sit on the other side. And sometimes a boy would, you, it was expected the boy would come and ask you to dance. But if they didn't, you know that then they had what was called a broom dance.

So you would dance with the broom and then you would pass the broom to somebody else and you would grab that person. Uh, but, uh [CLEARS THROAT] so I think by girl relationships were the common thing when I was a child and in school. Uh, but in today's world that you also have, we had what were, um, May [DON'T KNOW THE TERM], which were celebrations for the whole community. And you would have a German band, or western band to come and play. So sometimes men didn't like to dance. So it was not unusual for two women to dance together. But there was nothing, um, implied by that it was an accepted, it was not like there was a love affair going on. It was just you were enjoying the dance.

[THINKS] [DRINKS WATER] I'm not sure that. I'm not sure about that. I guess the answer would be no. Because I can't recall, uh, that. And I don't know, uh, if the story line, uh, yeah, I like to tell stories about people when they're, uh, to amplify, encourage them and respect them, uh, even like on their anniversary, well we just introduced our new superintendent. And he happened to visit our church on Sunday. So I would tell stories about this person. I taught this person she's now a math teacher at one of our schools or this person, um, is a great golfer and that kind of thing. Um,

If it's from the negative point of view, uh, I usua- uh, it's the old saying if you can't say something good, don't say something at all.

And so, uh, I keep those things and give people grace and hope, and uh, even today I would say I struggle with adults. Mostly, I think that's why I enjoy teaching so much, because children are children, and they're still growing up. But when adults act like children can't tell the truth, and afalsify, don't have integrity, I-I that bothers me because I was, I don't know if it school I was, uh, NHS National Honor Society sponsor for 27 years. And if you remember those pillars of leadership, character service, uh, okay. They, they were an academics, you know, uh, that, that was expected. And if you didn't, I had to kick kids out of Honor Society.

If they were, they'd get to [INAUDIBLE] if they were tardy to class three times over out. If they made a D or an F, they're out, you didn't live up to the expectations. So I had those hard times. But I was always open and straightforward. I would tell them, they knew the rules. And so I-I will always be transparent. And if something is not right, clarified, I'm not going to accuse you. And well, in those cases, I would have evidence, you know, so you have to-

It is I think that's something that maybe be missing now, and again, and not just our community, but uh- uh for truth. And um, yeah, people are for their own self.

[OPENS WATERBOTTLE]

[LAUGHS] Well, I guess we would have to go back to the definition of pop music. Um, if you're saying popular music, uh there's a lot of things I was never a rapper will say. Uh, But I go back to again, with music and play the piano. So I liked, I liked all of the decades, uh the 20s to 30s because I didn't live down but I played the music. Uh, as far as listening. I still, uh, I was an Elvis Presley, 60s that's, I think what you hear in high school becomes what you identify with. Okay. And so, uh, but again, um, I I've embraced modern music, um, whether, uh, usually it goes more by a group or, uh an individual like, okay, I-I in Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash or Kenny Rogers or whether it's some of the Beatles songs or Neil Diamond, uh, so I-I think across the generic on that, um-um but I'm definitely not, um, not not a rapper are, you know, I don't know, if you do line dancing. You know, that's kind of that's kind of a group thing, um, yeah, I. And I definitely have a problem with, [THINKS] songs are written music is written, depending upon the writer having experienced, uh, like, a lot of country western songs used to be DIVO or CE, you know, or lost love, you know, they've had something's gone wrong. So that's, that's how they work through it. It's a therapy, and they write the songs. But when the songs get to be, again, vulgar, and not the right use of words, it goes back to my core values of respect and a while some languages now they accept words that have implications. Um, I just, it's part of our culture. And it's part of their culture, but it doesn't have to be me.

Mhmm

Yes

Mhmm

Right

Right, and I think of the pop musicals or whether it was Phantom of the Opera, you know, or sound of music, or you know, you can even Hamilton had some great songs, too. Uh, I-I guess I have my preference. You know, I'm not necessarily the-the high soprano, opera person. I've respect their talent though. You know, and I listen [INAUDIBLE]. And so, it, it is. But, eh, oh, I-I have, is, I-I actually started a teenage group of when we had the first guitars in church, that was part of my duties also, and I can I remember the people just looking around, you know, when the first guitar was struggling. Uh, but out of that group then came [CLEARS THROAT] six ministers that went to seminary, and several songwriters that they wrote, you know, Christian songs. Uh, and so I think music is an expression. You know, and I respect that. But I think it should be done, if it becomes out there. It's should be in a respectful manner.

I have lived in Texas all my life. I was born in Titus County. And when I was five, we moved to a farm near White House, which is southeast of Tyler. I like growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse, climb trees, or hike down to the creek to fish or swim. [COUGHS] One time we tied a rope to a limb of the cypress tree and we'd swing out wide over the swimming hole and drop into the water. I prefer to be Tarzan swinging on a vine.[COUGHS AND DRINKS WATER] In the spring, I'd fly kites and on summer nights we'd catch fireflies, but we call them lightning bugs. Once in a while we'd have flights with corn cobs and or pine cones. In the winter, we'd build a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was alive while when I was 19 I went to work in Dallas at a Firestone Tire store. I didn't like city life and for a long time I'd go home every chance I got, mama would always cook our favorite foods fried okra, hop and John. That's rice and black eyed peas in pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After daddy died, Mama sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of hearing the city, but my wife and kids don't understand me when I gripe about city life and talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says daddy, " That's crazy. I just die if I had to live on a farm." I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing. But I try to make sure we don't lose touch with our roots. While we may live in a city, I want my kids to have a good feeling for the lamb. Have a sense of place and take pride in being Texans. If they lose our ties to the land, the price of progress is too high.

Thank you

to be introduced?

To being interviewed?

That means you are going to get the recording?

The interview?

Agreed. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Okay. Agreed.

Huh?

How I came to live here? [UM] I lived in my country, and my son wanted- son wanted me to come here to have better treatments, and better good living, good food, and what else- I love the fruits, fresh fruits, every time, which is my most favorite, therefore, all these he asked me to agree, I also agreed in coming to here I've already got my citizenship, and I'm happy for it.

This community, it's a beautiful community, very peaceful, no virus, or not have not scared at all symptoms about in the neighborhood at night also, after sunset. All alone? never felt any scared. Do not do not encounter any bad happenings. It's good, good neighborhood.

Huh?

Just encouraging anybody, everybody to come and stay here is a very beautiful place and is going to, especially the outside locality, rebuilt, and not so large and neither so small. It's quite big. Beautiful. So I'll tell people that it's a very good community. And they can come and stay here- oh the birds, theres different type of birds which are not seen in other areas. Theres those birds here, that with the Sandpiper and all, which is usually not in other areas. Those birds are plenty here. Everything is good here

2016 the very first time, for the very first time I came here to get in my son's graduation. I came here along with my husband and stayed here for six months on a tourist visa. And went back. I came here in April I suppose to do it. And after six months, that is October went back in October 2002. [Please note that after further clarrification, shes been in this community for the past 75 years or so she just had month periods that she spent overseas].

The enviroment has changed. Yeah. At that time when it came here first, it was 2002 it was not super densely inhabited. But now the inhabitants have grown in plenty. The roads are quite crowded. I see. Like it, It's okay. There's no harm in welcoming people living in harmony with everybody that is also good

They're living together. That is the greatest strengths is that we come to know different people, different communities, different religion, different sects, that is the standard good. Living together. And difficulty is a disadvantage or difficult to whatever it is. There's just not so much that And before seen, overlooked that much should we tolerate it is within tolerance. Not so unbearable.

What roles?

I never had any roles for anybody in my life. I never needed to.

What do I do for work?

For work?

No, at present I'm a housewife. And just doing household work. I love knitting, sewing. Once I loved to cooking, but that I had to give up because of my physical, some drawbacks. Some medical problems. That's right. Cause stand near the fire. Cause stand long near the fire. Few simple problems, just have to give up cooking. But otherwise I love reading, sewing, knitting, housework, keeping house clean, and all

No. [Indistinguishable] [my work?]

How did you get this work? When you just learned it? That is a thing.

My knitting sewing this child when I saw my parents, my mother do it. My sisters I learn from them. That's how I came down. Learn from them. Okay, good education, a good school institution. And I love reading. So that is how it came about

Yes. I worked in school. Okay. For almost 22 years in middle school.

How'd you get into teaching? Yeah. So fair to them because I got my good education and good university. And my two sons, they got admitted in school. Plenty of time, nothing to do. So instead of wasting the time to if I do something and contribute to the family, that really helpful for me, for everybody, for my children, for my husband and everybody. That's where I started.

I worked for 22 years.

Going to work?

Every day now?

teaching everyday regular work and went to school when their exams are hectic tank. At night when everybody was asleep or have to go to the papers, check it peaceful peace will so that they don't make any mistake. Don't deprive any student of get married or something. Yes, sir. All right, sometimes woke up very early in the morning before others look up to get some peaceful time. So that I can work with mark sheet for the students and auditors. Back then printer students in each class. And on the make list, you're done. All the sections or maybe sometimes 150 students all put into one list and bringing them according to their merit to it was a lot of hectic work, I had to do my part. And the other teachers also, we sat together and bogged down a single list of made according to married 450 students, it's difficult to work.

What does it is the satisfaction that I do can give something do to the children, which I should do. And now after you've determined when these students pay their respect to me, I feel proud that is my greatest returning greatest reward. And I'm happy before it

Joy, Joy, joy just isn't my greatest reward. Yes.

Biggest challenge was some of the students are sometimes very noisy. I'm not sure. [OB Jen?] can be very rough and tough them contain abuse their physical or anything. So her to those are the difficult times, especially as you may remember one of the more of, he, I suppose, in my life he was religious, I suppose. Anyhow, I managed him I managed to tame him. I made him the class captain. Knowing he's so not too soon, naughty, it can't keep him quiet for a second. So the only his only punishment is put some responsibility on his shoulder, and you're the captain of the class. So that is our team any bigger very happy.

Oh I [much?] of American one to four. Yeah. Yes. 1

one is the least?

Oh, four is the most.

Oh, then four. I thought one is the most.

As an American, I enjoy my freedom. I have no fear. That is what I said before I can go out. I'm getting good medical facilities. Recently, I had my heart surgery. I had a very very good treatment from all nurses and doctors and physicians and surgeons, and everyone all the caregivers and even to physiotherapist already very good. No. complaint about them get beyond they're not human receive support human. They're super human.

Huh? I consider myself?

Texan. Oh, now one is the most when is the least? What is the least or what you call is almost just four. four. Okay.

Three. To be a true Texan, you have to know how to speak English

I don't know Spanish. Sorry

one. Okay. So one.

Yes, I can do 1-4 is used and one is used. And four is most I can do anything? Yes, four. Okay

Four.

To the last two decades? No, I don't know. I don't see it. I didn't I don't fill it in that way. Not severe.

Yes, it's a good one.

Kid or young person? What The best part? 1-4?

Is it good?

Oh diversity about you. Go about freely anywhere, everywhere. Without any problems or fear.

traditional way of life? traditional way of libraries in this community is going away. We're going to resist, it's going away. Ah, yes, I think it's sometimes yes. Why. Especially with excuse sewing from everybody. I disagree with the dress the young girls go on. It's not so very agreeable to me. Although there is to it. So I said, Sorry, I don't mean any harm on anybody. But you don't like short dresses. It's really viewed.

Huh?

All Sports.

I'm not so much interested in sports. But still, I like badminton.

Yes. No, I didn't Don't as teach you don't know. No, you went before when I was young. No, I did not have any compensators what it did out of my really willingness out of like, liking Okay, cleaning my room, my study room. Myself, my team.

I don't know composite choice for me. Okay. Well, in my work that I have to do much does just not come under control.

What you have to do? The things that do? I don't find anything? So very bad. The worst? That's good. I like it. I like whatever I do. Okay. clean the toilets. Also, that you do too much July like you do. I want to do worst. must clean it.

It depends on age. Yes. A young age. The boys and girls should not come so close the country. So friends we are because they are not met you it is after maturity you can common be friends. Still there should be some limit to it. After all, we are humans. So that is a thing.

Oh yes, sometimes maybe it happened. Something little, not story. Maybe words or something? And I thought the person is not yet.

No, I don't remember exactly. It's not so mentioned. But I did feel Yes, I did say something.

1990?

I don't hear it. But pop music in 1990 my chances to hear that is objectant Whatever net like heard. Does a good yes.

I don't know about singing. Yeah. 1990 Do you know do or not to Elvis Presley? Elvis. You thats 1990 No.

It's just good. Okay.

Do i have to say it? it's too small for me too difficult.

oh not sorry, but large print. Large kind of you can look around

I enjoy giving the interview- taking part in the interview. I will say it interview. Friendly talk. Yes. I'd like to thank you

Yes, I could send to being recorded and audio for this interview.

Sure. I like to say coming to Austin was a happy accident. I was I joined the Air Force National Guard in New York when I was 21. And while I was in weather forecasting school, my my home unit where I was supposed to be assigned to online island where I grew up, they shut their weather portion down. So they needed to relocate me. I ended up I was in school with two guys that went to K u. And I decided, I'm going to move to Kansas because they had an opening there. So I relocated from New York to Kansas, met my future business partner in Kansas. And he was already planning on moving to Austin when he graduated. So we connected and this was over no time for social. This is actually for a private weather forecasting company that I started. So at 2425 I picked up. And then, basically, Austin Round Rock. I was in Austin for a little bit, but they had basically been in Round Rock for the last 25, almost 30 years. Gotcha.

Sure. Yeah. I think round rock over the years has grown into just a phenomenal community. I, I it was appealing to me just because it wasn't, I worked in downtown Austin, but wasn't really feeling moving into like the city when I worked down there. So I ended up relocating up here, right after I moved into into Austin and ended up having a business, my business in the Round Rock community. So I think the things that appealed to me was it was a small town when I moved here, so they were probably 30,000 people. And it just seemed like it had everything that I really was looking for as far as like the parks and like I like to fish. So I would come out to Old Settlers Park which by the way, I'm within walking distance now. So I can walk out my front yard and walk across the street and be at the park. So that's always fun. You know, at the time, I wasn't really looking at like school districts and stuff just because I wasn't married, didn't have kids, I was young. But you know, I had a duplex and then I moved into a house over by Stoney Point High School. So it was a it was a brand new community moved in got to know my neighbors and just felt really, really good about being in Round Rock and decided, hey, this is where I'm going to stay. So I think just the appeal of just the small town at the time, obviously now we're growing and growing a lot faster than probably a lot of people want. But I already knew that was coming because I follow the politics a lot. So I already knew Hey, Round Rock is going to be 220,000 people at some point. So but that was the initial probably the initial appeal.

To me, the main strength is the diversity of the people that are here. I think you can find people from all walks of life I mentioned Old Settlers Park. You know, you go out to Old Settlers park on a nice fall day or a nice spring day where you know, you're gonna have a lot of people out there. You probably have people from 2530 Different countries like literally all mingling together. Everybody's got you know, their own different things they do. But the diversity I think, to me has been one of the things that I think is a highlight of having different cultures and different people here. So my son plays basketball, for instance, and both of his good buddies and basketball in fact, they just came back a few minutes ago from their camp at Stoney point. Both of his buddies are both from India. So one of the kids is from Northern India the other day Kids from southern India are good friends with both of their dads now.

So I think some of the weaknesses is, you know, some of the infrastructure has had challenges, like catching up. And I realized that, you know, it takes a lot of planning, and I don't envy, you know, the I know, the Director of Transportation, and so a lot of the, you know, city council members, so I realize they have a big challenge ahead of them. I do feel like some of the pre planning and planning may not be as forward looking as possible. So I'll give you an example. You know, as I mentioned, when I moved here, I would, you know, I attend city council, and I would sort of see some of the things that are going on in the community. And there's always been this push of like, Hey, we're going to build out Round Rock until there's houses and park space and business, right. So you can almost expect all usable land at some point to become used. When you think about that, though, the road planning needs to be done with anticipation of, we may need to widen these roads. So there was a huge project that happened on University Boulevard, right? So they built University Boulevard. And it took him five years to just basically relocate the utilities for a two mile stretch to widen the road. If you already know you're going to be widening a road at some point in time in the future, why not just start the utilities. In the end, I again, I may be completely off here. I don't know anything about utilities, but I know that it took a hell of a long time to relocate those utilities. So I almost feel like it's not done on purpose. But you know, if you don't relocate the utilities at some point, you need to hire somebody which keeps people busy. It's still if you built all the utilities far out, so you could just extend the road later. Nobody would have a job to relocate the utilities. I don't know it's just a weird like, thing that kind of goes through my head as I as I observe things, but

Sure yeah. So work day for me is-- we are a digital marketing agency. A little bit different than hot dog marketing, we focus only on social media, and focus on Google AdWords, but mainly Facebook ads. So our typical client would be a roofing company, because that's the world that I lived in before when I was when I owned my Weather Company. However, we do work with some nonprofits throughout the area. producing content and also running ads. My typical day is wake up, look at all the alerts for all the various clients we have get into my planning schedule for the day, do I have any sales calls I need to make? Do I have any follow up I need to make, obviously dealing with issues if there's any particular issues with Facebook, or the ads account I need to deal with. We do have a team meeting at 245. Every day, we're mainly remote. So we meet up every day at 245. To go over the day. We use Google meet a lot. So we're constantly Google meet Google Chat, within within the Google platform. But that would be my main day is just focused all on client work and sales calls. And then I've got some administrative stuff I need to do I oversee almost the whole company. So and then we're small, we're just a three person agency. So whether it's processing client payments, dealing with any of that would be my day in and day out. Community wise, I'm on the board of the YMCA. So I actually just had a meeting with them this morning. And I'm also on the board of directors for the ramrod chamber similar to Jessica Jessica is the president of the board. So I've been on the board now for like six years now. And just contribute as much as I can. I'm on the entrepreneurship Committee, which I've been on for a while Jessica has been on that before and has actually headed that up before. So I do a lot of stuff having to do with entrepreneurship, help run 1 Million Cups, which is an event we have, try to attend all the entrepreneurship related events for the chamber and just be as involved as I can.

Yeah, I would say my connections are very, very important. The reason I started no time for social was because of all my connections that I had. So when I when I left my weather company, and I did that for various reasons, but I departed my weather company like around October 2011. And it was a shock to a lot of people because I had 1000s of connections in the roofing industry. And when you have that many people that are following you on Facebook, and you know you're managing a page on Facebook running ads just come full on connected. That that turns into something. So what it turned into was a bunch of roofers reaching out to me saying, Hey, Bill, I've got no time for this social media stuff. I didn't even have a company name until I heard that 100 times. Right. So then I named the company no time for social. And all of those connections led me into immediately started my company and beginning to connect with people and say, Okay, you're a roofer, you're an Arkansas, you need help. Here's what we charge, let's go locally here, same type of thing, right. So I've run several campaigns for city council members and for school board members on Facebook for when they're running for office. So obviously, that connection with the various city council members, the mayor, different people I'm connected with lead to Oh, Bill runs a digital marketing agency that runs Facebook, let me put you in touch with him. So my name being out there has certainly helped with I know a person he could help you. I usually I'm very good at speaking with people. And I'm very try to be as helpful as I can. So I just had a chamber member reach out and he needs help with Google ads. So I'm gonna meet with him on Monday in downtown Round Rock, sit down, go through, you know, whatever I can do to help him. A little bit of goodwill goes a long way. So I do sometimes, obviously, I tried to charge for my time when I can, but I usually will speak with anybody and give him an hour of my time just to sort of help out and I feel like that has come full circle so many times. So that's that's basically how my connections in the in the city have worked.

When, when somebody hires us, and we see really good results from the work that we're doing, that's huge. So we had one of our clients is one of the is a nonprofit locally here, and they had trouble hiring. So we ran some hiring ads on Facebook. And I think we got like 50 applications, and they hired like five or six people off of those applications. Well, that's a good feeling, because they may not have the wherewithal or the infrastructure to go out and build, run and manage these ads. Because the Facebook Ads Manager is a mess, and I cannot stand it, but I live in it. And I've been doing it for 10 years. So we're good at it, right. So when you're good at something, even if you don't like it, you can bring value to other people by helping them out. And that's really where I find the most kind of joy from the business side of things is seeing the success of what we do transpire into that business. So and that happens not only locally here, but even with our clients throughout the United States. I mentioned roofing, we generate leads for roofers and sometimes hand over fist for like a third of what they would pay on Google. So that that actually is really cool to see where they're getting, you know, a $20,000 roofing job for a $50 lead. So that's, that's really where the most joy comes from.

The biggest challenge is the Facebook Ads Manager changing so much. And the fact that they're unfortunately, their support team does not provide the support needed for the challenges that we face. So if there are any major issues that you're dealing with, and we are dealing with one right now we're up a large bank that we work with their Facebook page was taken down because somebody reported their page as a duplicate page or something. So their AI picked up on it, and just immediately banned the page. We've been working, trying to work with Facebook for one month on like, with like five different tickets open, and there's no way to get them to fix it. And no one really cares. And I think when you don't care, it's a big problem. And, you know, I'm not saying they don't care that the page is down, but there's not enough care to get the resolution come to the table with you know, any sense of urgency. You know, it's a major bank, and their page has been down for a month and the bank is their hands are tied. So if that happens to my company, or any of my other businesses that I'm working with, I don't I my sense of I guess my my feeling is that I will not get the support. So I'm losing a little bit of faith in that. So I it is what it is. I mean, like I said, we've been doing this for 10 years, and I hope I can continue running ads for clients for the next five to six years until I get closer to retirement. But you know, the cards are stacked against us right now, unfortunately. So that's really the biggest challenges in our day, everything else seems to be running smoothly. Obviously getting new clients is always a challenge. And you know, Jessica and I have talked about that over the years. Right? As much as possible. But But yeah, overall, that's the biggest challenge.

One is agree, right?

Yeah, right.

I would say four at this point, even though I come from New York.

I think equally important, and just I do I mean, I do. I love the Whole Texas thing like the fact that we're a big, you know, big, big state, for example, and we're growing and there's a lot of business and industry here and things are, for the most part, doing fairly well, right? Obviously, there's extremes on all kinds of stuff. But I would say for the most part, there's a reason why so many people are moving here.

I would say one on that. All right. I completely disagree with that. I mean, I think my wife's from Mexico, and she's a dual language teacher in Pflugerville. So

Um, I would say I disagree with that. So that would be a one or two? It depends on if one is disagree. I'm sorry. Oh, one. Gotcha. I would say yeah, you don't have to speak Spanish to be a true Texan.

I would say three, all right.

Let me think about that. Obviously, the growth, so we've gone from 30,000 residents to like 120,000. So when you bring in 90,000 new people, you're going to have a lot of homes being built a lot of apartments being built. So that that leads to a lot more traffic on the roads, which I remember when I first bought my house here and Old Settlers Park, we were the only community out here and it would be a breeze to get here and now it's it's not. So that would probably be one of the biggest things is that the growth has led to a lot of a lot more chaos than probably I want to deal with.

Oh, 100% Yeah

Does it matter if it's college just favorite sports team? Then I'm gonna say the Kansas Jayhawks

They normally do very well every year. So they're usually ranked in the top 10 to 15 every year. So it's hard to say KU does bad. However, this year, they did not do well. Before with well, player issues with injuries and yeah, I knew we were going to lose in the tournament pretty quickly. So this this will probably be a little bit of a blip down with hopefully a trajectory of going forward to next season. I think. I think you're on the come up. Yeah, I think we're already preseason ranked like number one or two. So

Probably vacuuming the house.

Um I actually liked the outdoor work. So growing up in the northeast, you in the fall you have a lot of leaves that fall. So we actually enjoyed raking the leaves and making big piles as kids right and, and jumping in the leaves. So that was that was kind of fun. I actually didn't mind also shoveling snow. Just because I knew we were gonna we had a snow day right so we weren't gonna go to school. So I'm shoveling snow and having fun. So the outdoor work wasn't wasn't too bad. I didn't mind that at all.

Um, as kids, probably, I think it's I think it's easy. I think it's the adults in depends on if you're single or not. So that could get that could get into all kinds of stuff. Right? So I actually have several friends that are female, but I'm also married. So you got to kind of look at like that, how that how that relationship is, you know, work. So my wife happens to be friends with one of the friends that I've been friends with forever since I moved here. But yeah, I mean, I think, I think perfectly fine for boys and girls to be to be friends with each other.

I can give you that it happens to be that I have done that. And it's not necessarily in person. I actually was planning on texting somebody information about somebody else. And it wasn't it wasn't negative, but it could have been taken in a negative context. And I actually sent the text to the person. And it didn't go over to Well, I imagine though it was. It was just a weird situation. And I, it had to do, I can't remember what it had to do with but I'm still friends with the guy that I sent the text to. But it was it had to do something with business. And it's we're talking like, probably 15 years ago, but I certainly learned my lesson from that. And honestly, it was really probably the only time I mean, certainly we talk to people about different things and situations that come up. And there's always gossip that goes on. But it's rare that I'm speaking about somebody negatively in front in front of them.

You know, I think the longevity on 80s. Music is is so it's like cemented my son is 14 and he literally has probably he knows all the ad songs. He's walking around the house, Everybody Wants to Rule the World singing that. Michael Jackson. I feel like that time period like the late 70s, when a lot of the one hit wonders came out and there was experimentation with and I used to DJ, by the way. So in New York. So I very familiar with tons of different kinds of music, right. And we didn't have any country in New York when I grew up. So I had no idea what country was until I moved to Kansas. But you know, the electronic music like Herbie Hancock and all the hip hop that came out in Long Island, New York and the Bronx, like, I feel like that timeframe, there was so much experimentation to like, go from rock and roll with the 70s and disco into like, all this kind of music. I feel like it just it changed music. I think the 80s did. And then I feel like the 90s was was good. But it's sort of leveled out a little bit. And there was maybe level less one hit wonders going on, and have these like one off songs that were really exciting. And so that's my opinion on music.

I'm glad we got to spend some time together. Hopefully my answers helped and for sure. Hope to hear from you again soon.

I consent to be recorded on here.

Uh, my parents moved here in 1983. And they- needless to say, I was 13. So they brought me here, and I didn't have much to say about it. But I loved it and I'm glad I grew up here.

It's got a small town feel with a lot of great amenities close by.

It grew from a small town. And then when there was a lot of effort put into economic development, and they brought Dell as a headquarters here. And at that point, our entire community changed, due to infrastructure, money, just everything across the board that came with all those things, and it exploded the city and I think it was always forward thinking.

Continued leadership... without being involved in politics. I would say I think it's whether- it's always about [COMMUNITY NAME]. versus is it this ideology or that ideology. It's always about what is the best for [COMMUNITY NAME] across all of those.

Finding the next generation of leaders that are coming up in our community right now, that can continue with that.

Um I have been very involved with the Chamber of Commerce. Also, I sat on the city council for six and a half years. And I was involved in multiple campaigns for initiatives within the city. Nice. And what do you do for work? I'm an insurance advisor.

Insurance advisor, insurance agent, we like to say advisor.

[INAUDIBLE] So of course, the business network connections that help with that, as we move through it, but also, I think it's a two fold issue that works both ways. I may benefit as a person that is getting business within our community, because I've got a face there. But I will also say that I know a lot of other leaders, that it's always about giving back for me, it's about- this is my hometown, and it's the city I grew up in. So I want to make sure that it's a great place for my family and my kids and my grandkids.

Wow, boy, that that's a long one. Honestly, I just wanted to be involved in our community. And so I started volunteering, through mainly chartered with a rotary club, I got involved in a nonprofit, essentially just the Rotary Club, which is vocational leaders, but really, it's all about giving back. And so we used to have at that time uh it was the rotary Special Olympics. And so it was at [COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL], and just started volunteering there. And did that for as long as we have that almost 15 years. And so it changed a little bit on that side. And Special Olympics changed how we did it for qualifying meets and so we don't have it anymore. And I really use it because it was a great community that- but that's where it started was just volunteering a couple hours there. And then it grew into people started asking myself and others, I want to make sure that this is more about an entire peer group and it is myself and just started seeing those out and hey, you got some time, can you come help me with this? And that's how it started.

[INAUDIBLE] Three years.

Usually eight to five actually can be a little bit later than that. A lot of it is More relationship building, and so it's just taking time to sit down and talk to people and find out if we're a good fit for that or not.

I'm not really sure how to answer that question. I think it's just something a lot of people have to have. And so why not do business with someone you know and you can trust.

For me, it's making sure that our clients are taken care of. And if there is that drastic thing that happens, that they don't lose their company, because of it, that they have the proper risk mitigation put in place. And so and I've seen that happen with my clients, especially with weather events that we've had lately. And they've been able to keep their business afloat due to how we set it up. So that's the best part.

Making sure that clients are taken care of, but not, I will say over insured. That they have the proper level.

I think completely agree because I'm a US citizen. I was born here. So.

I'm not quite sure how to answer that one. I don't know what we're looking for. So.

Okay, Thanks.

Four

I would say equally important.

I would say one, completely disagree.

That's maybe got that previous question messed up. Did you ask? I want to make sure. Do you mind repeating the previous question because I want to make sure I got it right.

Okay, okay.

I messed that up. Because I'll give you my real answer if there's any question about this. No, I don't think you have to speak English to be a true Texan.

I will probably put that in two.

Completely disagree with that everything changed.

I would say the infrastructure and the amenities that this community offers, along with keeping, what I will say is that small town feel, that sense of place, that's still here. I know a lot of people that feel connected here that went to high school here and have come back and now raising their families here.

Yeah.

Yes.

Growing up with the community as it was getting larger, I would say that. Um used to you could bike all around before you had a driver's license, you can go anywhere. It's always been a safe community. It's always kept that.

So, me I think that's the nice part is just to watch all this growth around us and not have to drive into Austin to get something, that is here now.

No, I disagree. I think it's just changing. What do you think keeps things the same? I think there's study leadership that has been there for over 30 years.

College or pro?

You're gonna hate this one. But Texas A&M Aggies.

Pretty good.

Yes.

Always taking out the trash.

Mowing the lawn.

Yes. You'd be amazed at how I can stack trash.

Yes, I'm married. I have a wife.

Uhh, maybe sometimes you talk about the wife and you're standing there and then you turn right around and she's standing right there. Maybe about her cooking or something along those lines. But usually never anything bad.

I'm gonna disagree with that. But I'm more of a country music fan. So I like things that are a little bit older.

I would probably say the 80s.

I'd say why? Because George Strait really started them.

Sure.

Okay, I just need to read it?

Okay. I've lived in Texas all my life. I was born in Titus County. And when I was five, we moved to a farm near White House, which is in southeast- which is southeast of Tyler. I like growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse contries or hike down to the creek to fish or swim. One time we try we tied a rope to a limb on a cypress tree, and we'd swing out wide over the swing bowl and drop into the water. I'd pretend to be Tarzan swinging on the vine. In the springtime, I'd like to fly kites and on summer nights we'd catch fireflies, but we call them lightning bugs. Once in a while. We'd have fights with corn cobs or pine cones. In the winter, we build a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was a live wire. When I was 19 I went to work in Dallas at a Firestone Tire store. I didn't like city life and for a long time I'd go home every chance I got. Mama would always cook my favorite foods: fried okra, Uppin John, that's rice with black eyed peas, and pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After daddy died and Mama sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of in the city. But my wife and kids don't understand when I gripe about the city life talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says Daddy, that's crazy, I just die if I had to live on a farm. I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing but I'm trying to make sure we don't lose touch with our roots. While we may live in a city I want my kids to have a good- good feeling for the land, have a sense of place, and take pride in being Texan. If they- if we lose our ties to the land, the price of progress is too high

Okay.

I consent to being recorded and audio recorded and whatever else you…

..interviewed for this study.

When I was two, my parents moved here with me.

There's a lot of traffic. There's a lot of things for families, we have great food, and that's why everybody's so fat. Um...It's hot in the summer, and humid. But otherwise, the weather's pretty good... 'S about it.

It's definitely gotten hotter in the summer. It's grown immensely. And there's a lot more traffic. And I guess it's gotten more diverse. Um...It seemed like, growing up, the majority of people in the area were white, and now there's more Hispanics.

People are friendly. Good food, already mentioned that. Um...The strengths... has good trees, a lot of nature? I guess that's about it. I guess there's not really a lot of strengths to [COMMUNITY NAME].

Yeah, I don't think the infrastructure is that great. Um, I don't think that... they were prepared for the influx of people. And so the uh, roads are not planned to take on the population. And so now people are moving outside of the inner loop and making it more congested on the outskirts of town versus in the middle. So [CHAIR CUSHIONS MOVING] I don't think traffic was planned out very well.

Well, I was a teacher for 31 years. And I have an amazing son, who was in band. [LAUGHS] And um, so I did a lot of the volunteer stuff. Um... Let's see, what other roles do I have in the community?....mm... I guess that's it.

I guess I'm not very active in my community.

Oh, I like to play board games.

So I [INAUDIBLE] go to board game groups. And I like to nature so I have some hiking groups. And [SIGHS] that's about it, I guess.

Yes. I enjoyed teaching. Probably my first 25 years of teaching. And then the uhm... The kids nowadays have changed in that there's not a lot of parental guidance at home. And so the teachers were... took on the role of parent also. And, there was a lot of um disrespect. And that would stem directly from the family life at home. So I enjoyed it my first 25 years and, uh my sister is a teacher in Arizona. And she says she's not even certified and they're hiring her because there's such a shortage. And they can't... At any given day, they'll, they'll have, you know, 60 kids in one classroom because a bunch of teachers don't show up. There's no subs. She said the kids are horrible and disrespectful, so, I think the district that I was in was pretty good.

Um, I retired, let's see... Four, five... Five or six years ago?

Yeah, like, well, it's probably been 10 years now.

Which I hate to admit that it's been that..

...long, but definitely my last year, the kids were just... just horrible. Its not the kids fault, I'm not saying that the kids were bad that it's just they had no... It really, to me, my opinion, was when uh cell phone usage became um, [TAPS ARMREST] prevalent. And the parents were more interested in their social media and watching YouTube videos, and they'd come, these poor kids were so excited their parents would come to have lunch with them. And the parent would be watching the video on the phone the entire time, and not even say anything to the kids, and could care less that their kid was sitting there. And they'd talk on the phone, and they would just be all involved with the phone and not the kids. So, I don't know.

That's my take.

Mhm.

Yeah. The video games, I think is the beginning. And some parents bought it and that affected the kids, but then the phone affected the parents. And it was, it's, like they just don't... When I'd take my son to the grocery store, he was involved in the grocery shopping. Now the kid's in the cart with the phone watching a video and the parents are doing their thing. So it's li-, it uh, it's just... I don't know.

[SHIFTING IN CHAIR] Um... I think being a mom, uhm influenced it the most. Although, I think teaching influenced me being a mom also. Just, knowing the importance of communication and, and um. I think also because I was such an old mother, I didn't have my son 'til I was 35. I had already gotten all the socialization and all the partying out. And so, I was 100% committed to doing that. Um, because I always loved kids and that's why I was in teaching.

No, I taught from the, the moment I got out of college. Um. I taught, not as an official teacher, but at an outdoor education center. And then I went into teaching and then I retired.

Oh, my day was always exciting because I taught special education. So... do you want me to start with when I got up in the morning? [LAUGHS]

Okay so, I would just get up. You know, I'd get everything prepared the night before and I get up, I'd get my son to daycare or to school and then I'd show up at work at 7:15. 'Cause elementary schools y-, started early. And then um, I guess my last two years I worked with uh, an emotionally disturbed s... Well he was six and seven, when I had him. In a, a third of a portable. With um... Well, at the beginning we just had a door and some windows, two windows. We had two doors and two windows at the third of this portable but by the, ti-, the, by the time I retired, we had a solid-core door 'cause he busted down the other door and almost went through the windows so they were boarded up. So I had a third of a portable, boarded up windows, a solid-core door to the other, rest of the portable, and then um, had two desks and two chairs. And that was about all because he was so dangerous [LAUGHS]. So um, my whole day was getting hit or scratched or whatever, when he was upset, but just the- the best kid in the world. And he would never want to hurt you but, he just had some emotional issues.

Well, I pay-played basketball in college. And then when I graduated with, I had a business administration, computer science degree. And my, as one of our basketball, learning how to communicate to be a better team, we went to an outdoor education center, and did a ropes course. And when I graduated, my basketball coach said, "Hey, you want to work at the outdoor education center?" And I was like, "Sure." So, I took that as a job, right out of college, and then I found out I could get a teaching certificate, um, without going to extra school, just by working. So I just kind of fell into teaching, but I always loved kids, so it wasn't really a stretch.

Yeah it's just the path of least resistance..

...You know, I didn't have to do anything. I just had to fall into the job and go to work every day. And that's basically what I did.

I would've- looking back, I would've enjoyed other careers, but... That one was there. And it was easy, and I enjoyed it.

Paid the bills.

The biggest challenges, we'll start there, was paperwork and administration. Because the kids were amazing, and I loved every minute of the kids. Um. You know, because kids will be kids. And, it's just the all the hoops you have to jump through. Um. For instance, you know, I worked with violent kids most of the time. Well, not most of the time, but at the end of my career, because I'm very even- tempered. And we had to do this thing called CPI training, which is um, Crisis Prevention Intervention. And so they were safe holds to hold a kid that's in crisis, so that you wouldn't get hurt, and you wouldn't hurt, hurt the kid. Um, and in that training, they say, "Never go anywhere by yourself with a child." Well, if you have a violent child, and you have to go across campus, the district is not going to pay to have two employees to go anywhere, much less stay in a room. You know, it's just not financially feasible to do that. So you couldn't do anything that they told you in training. And then when something did happen, and you did get hurt... Um, like one of the kids threw a chair at the principal, and she had to go to the emergency room. Um. And then it's like, "Well, why didn't you follow the CPI procedures?" And, and, you know, it sounds bad, but it's like a woman that, that gets raped. You know, like, "Well, why did you do that? What that caused you to..." You know, you're doing your job, and you're doing everything you can to be safe, and you get hurt. And then it's your fault. And so, you know, the policies and procedures and their ideas were just ridiculous. But the kids were just amazing. Even if they were hurting you in the moment, that wasn't their intent. So you couldn't really get mad at the kid. So. Oh, and then coworkers. There's some such bad teachers. It's ridiculous. They hate kids. And they're yelling constantly at the kids. And they're keeping their jobs somehow. I- I don't know. And they're dumb. Some teachers are just dumb. And shouldn't be teaching.

Can.. I mean they, teachers are given the curriculum! They tell you exactly what to do, how to do it, when to do it! Like, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to be a teacher. What separates a teacher is that you can have relationships with kids and can be nice to kids and you enjoy kids. That's what makes a teacher because they give you what to do, when to do it, how to do it. And you have teachers that get their curriculum off Pinterest and decide this is a good thing to do when you're given the day to day. So, incompetent. There's just incompetence too. Okay. There was a lot I didn't like obviously, [LAUGHING] at the end.

I think it's across the board. I think it's um... My sister summed it up by saying, "When you go to into the teachers lounge, it's the Island of Misfit Toys." So, you just have all these quirky people that are brought together... And I don't know if it's because it's a female dominated profession. And, you know, we're, you would think we're really into it, where women can do anything. Um. It's still not the case, I think still women are funneled into teaching. And some people that don't know what they're going to do they just become a teacher, because that's what women do. And that's, a lot of the problem is that they think, "Oh, well, you know, I want to be a mother someday, I like kids, I'll be a teacher." And, it's not, you know... And then, the, it's male dominated at the top. And they don't know how to deal with these, the women issues. So I think, I mean, that sounds horrible and sexist. But I think if it was um, if teachers were trained more like a business, rather than a teacher is, then I think we'd be better off and they would get- and paid better also- because, a lot of men don't become teachers because the pay is bad. And if they just raised the pay, and ran it as a business, be way better. No.

Okay.

Okay. I would say four.

However, after watching bits and pieces of the [PRESIDENTIAL] debate, and thinking of all the millions of people that are Americans, I mean, you think about how many Americans there are on this planet. The two people that they choose to, to run the country are a felon, and somebody that's losing it mentally. Like they couldn't find anybody else to represent America! Kind of makes me question [LAUGHING] how American I really I am! Like, they do not represent me!

Ridiculous!

And then, you know, I used to be proud to wear a shirt that had an American flag on it. But now, the flag has been so closely related to Trump. I don't want people to think that I am supporting Trump and his, you know, womanizing, wackadoodle, election-fraud ideas that I don't want people to think that, that, that I'm a Trumper!

So... It's hard to show your patriotism these days.

Yes.

I would say... I [SIGHS] would say a four. Again, that also is kind of waning, and I'm considering moving away from Texas. Um. Not necessarily for the political ideas, although that's, you know, Texans kind of get a bad rap about how conservative and backwards we are. But then again, there are those backwards conservative people that give Texans a bad name. But you know, I guess I would say that I'm... I would say I'm [LAUGHING] mostly proud to be a Texan. And I do think Texas is a really good place to live, although it's getting a little bit warm here. And a little dry. So

Uh well, at least in some places in Texas, I guess, but- might give it away where I'm from. [LAUGHING]

Wow, um... I would say I'm an American first and a Texan... Second.

Well, I'm wondering if there's a follow up, and to be American do you need speak English? Is that gonna be the next one?

Alright well... Because I think to be... English is the international language, I think, might be saying this wrong. Um. And people in all parts of the world strive to speak the international language of English. And if you go to another country, a big city in another country, then you might hear announcements in their language and in English. However, in Texas, you hear things in English and then in Spanish. And I don't know if it's the influx of people across, in the border, across the border. Um. I don't really agree with making it easy for people not to learn English in Texas. So I think it's important that people learn English, not just because I'm in Texas, but because it's the international language.

Ahh, true Texan though, that I guess that kind of bothers me... But I would say, to be a true Texan... Well, yeah, this is kind of tricky, because you know, if you're gonna say, other ethniticities aren't welcome in Texas... If you say four, strongly agree that everyone should speak English... It could get misconstrued that you don't want other nationalities here. So that's not correct. However, I do think English is important. I'm going to have to say four.

But, we welcome all ethniticities and races here. Just... Try to speak English

Okay.

Huh. Spanish is helpful. But to be a true Texan? Aw, I don't know. That's so weird. Um. I mean, of course, I'd like to speak Spanish. Um. To be a true Texan you must... I mean, nowadays, you almost have to because everything else is in Spanish but... Um. To be a true Texan... True Texan... To be, again, that's kind of like... Conservative, proud... "I want to keep the Texan race pure," you have to speak... That's kind of, [SLAPS KNEE] that's a loaded question.

Um. But I'm gonna say... One. [LAUGHING]

[LAUGHING] Those are loaded questions.

Yeah, but it's just uh, that's... That is very um... It's kind of a divisive question. And would they be asking that if we were doing this in Louisiana or Ohio? Would that be..

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

In my community, you can do everything you want, and get everything you need, even if you don't speak. I would say that's true.

Yeah.

I'd say three.

I'm sure there's some things that, that you can't... I'd say three.

They've been stable in my community and haven't changed, I'd say probably... Three.

Okay.

Well, in my community, in particular, the land sizes have gotten a lot smaller, and the houses have gotten bigger and closer together.

Overall? I'd say yes.

Well, when the, in this community, the houses were further apart, and we kind of had free rein, so we would um, ride our bikes up to the church and hang out at the baseball field and fly kites, and climb trees, and... We could just pretty much go anywhere um, on our bicycles and play outside, because we had huge, you know, acre lots, and um... Very low traffic, and it was just a really safe and not a well traveled community with lots of land.

Well, [SIGHS] with parents supervision. I'm not sure that I would let my you know, eight year old take their bike and ride for a couple of miles away and hang out at the softball field unsupervised, especially with the homeless community and..

..I would say it probably is eroding. A lot of what we said before, things before we started taping, about cell phone usage and um, parents not having the important idea of that raising kids is important. Um. So I think that's definitely eroding society.

Yeah I think... Yeah I think the priorities are different now.

Well, I'd say the [NORTH TEXAS COMMUNITY SPORTS TEAM] and they're not doing well. Um. Of course the [COMMUNITY SPORTS TEAM], then they're not doing well. [LAUGHS] So um, we don't really have any other sports teams besid-, that are professional teams, we have to soccer and it's too hot to go to a soccer game here. So.

That's about it.

Uh I had to do chores when I was younger. I had to put my clothes away. I had to clean up my room, take the trash out. And now I get to clean the whole house. Take the trash down, do everything, basically.

Uh no. I didn't be-, well... Um, he did chores, but he didn't like to get his hands dirty. And so he would unload the dishwasher and not load the dishwasher because he didn't want to get his hands dirty. And he, I love to be outside. And I love to be outside. So I mow, and he would vacuum because it was inside and then the air conditioned. So, um. I catered his jobs to jobs he enjoyed, and he didn't have to clean the toilet or do anything that was gross. I figured when he becomes an adult, he'd have plenty of time to enjoy those kinds of things.

Oh, I'm sure I did. Um. I was pretty much rule follower, though. So I would say not as much as my sister who would, you know, my mom would say bring all that bring all the dishes down from upstairs. And, you know, I wouldn't have any dishes upstairs and my sister would have all her dirty dishes shoved under the bed. And so uh, I'd say I probably did, but I don't remember. And I tried to be, do the right thing. Uh, for the most part.

Oh, I'm sure.

Umm…

Right? I can't specifically. Usually my MO would be to tell a story that was inappropriate with the person standing right there. And then think, "oh, I shouldn't have said that." So I'm, but I'm sure I talked about somebody behind their back. I just don't, you know, it wasn't a whole lot different than saying it to their face to me, because I kind of just had verbal diarrhea.

And would just say what was on my mind whether it was right or wrong? And people would just say, "Oh, that, [COMMUNITY RESIDENT NAME]." So... Yeah, I can't remember a specific incident that I was mortified because that's pretty much my every day.

Oh, 100%! Yeah. Oh, yeah. Saying something online is, happens all the time. And then, yeah, poor kids growing up now they have so many more things to worry about. 'Cause it, kids aren't just saying it to their friend. They're saying it to the whole world and it can't be erased and it can't be taken back. And if you stay you're sorry to a person, you know, it's still out there. Yeah.

Think it's hard to be a kid now.

think that they are not communicating in person much at all. I think um. I actually think that... I think now, kids are recognizing it. And since kids are so much smarter than we were as kids, because they have such access to everything. Um. I think they're seeing it. And I think we're going to have a shift where um... And I, I've kind of already seen it with the 20 year olds, putting the phone away or not using the phone after like, say eight o'clock at night. And just because they realized that the connection is lost. Um. But, again, until parents start doing their jobs and, you know, enforcing things like that when they're younger, things aren't going to change a lot.

But I do think that kids like your age are realizing, hey... They're more intentional about their time, maybe, now than... Than the 30 year olds that were in it when cell phones became big.

Yeah.

Oh, well, you know, what I listened to in high school, and college, um was probably... Yeah, country, of course, because you know, everybody listened to country. And then, you know, 80's rock, because I grew up with 80's rock. Um. And then I guess I kind of branched into some more acoustic kind of, um, stuff as I've gotten older, I guess just because of the mellow rock kind of thing. Um. But, I'm not a huge music person. So... I haven't really developed any new um, likes, I guess, or new music genres, because I just don't listen to music enough.

100%.

My son went to a predominantly black high school. And when you know, when he was growing up, if we had music on it'd be country or it's probably country because I didn't want to, you know, play rock music to, you know, a three year old. But his high school music was foul mouth, rap music, that all the kids at his high school... I don't know if your brother did, but were listening to this foul mouthed, high school music, like this rap music. And when my son went to the college, he worked at the Harvard radio station, and he was a DJ at two or three in the morning, for an hour, he an hour segment. So of course, I'd set my alarm. And I would listen to him and record him on the radio. And the biggest joke would be to write down the titles and then when we're having Thanksgiving with his grandmother... Play some of his selections! And they were the foulest, raunchiest, rap music known to the planet. [DOG WALKING ACROSS FLOOR] So it's very funny. [LAUGHS]

Did, did your brother listen to rap?

Yeah, no. No, he, I'm sure he was... There was not many people listening to this kind of music. But it's funny that it, and I think he didn't revert back to some more appropriate music because we didn't have a lot of music playing. So it's not like he had a lot, a lot of role model at home. And so he just kept that, like raunchy foul mouth rap music and he still enjoys that.

Like... What???

Anyway, I mean, and he's a total white nerd! It was so bad. Anyway..

Okay.

Okay.

Sure.

Okay, so do you want me to read it my best southern accent? [LAUGHS]

Okay. Uhuh

"I've lived in Texas, all my life. [CHAIR CREAKING] I was born in Titus County. And when I was five, we moved to a farm near White House, which is southeast of Tyler. I liked growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse, climb trees or hike down the creek to fish or swim. One time we tied a rope to a limb of a cypress tree and we'd swing out wide over the swimming hole and drop into the water. I pretend to be Tarzan swinging on a vine." [LAUGHING] I would do this as a kid. Um. "In the spring, I'd fly kites and on summer nights we'd catch fireflies, but we called them lightning bugs. Once in a while we'd have fights with corncob or pine cones. In the winter we build a fire in a fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was a Livewire. When I was 19 I went to work in Dallas at a Firestone Tire store. I didn't like city life. And for a long time I'd go home every chance I got. Mama would always cook my favorite foods fried okra. hoppin john, that's rice and black eyed peas, and pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After daddy died, Mama sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of here in the city. But my wife and kids don't understand me when I gripe about city life and talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says, "Daddy, that's crazy. I'd just die if I had to live on a farm." I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing, but I try to make sure we don't lose touch with our roots. While we may live in this, in a city, I want my kids to have a good feeling for the land. Have a sense of place and take pride in being Texans. If they lose our ties to the land the price of progress is too high.

I can't believe it didn't have the word chester drawers in there.

[LAUGHS] We always called it chester drawers. Instead of chest of drawers.

Growing up, we didn't know the difference or, or I'd get made fun of for saying queue-pon instead of coupon.

I don't know.

Yeah.

[LAUGHS] Or uh, the pecan pie? [IMITATING THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] Pecan pie?

[INAUDIBLE] to the crick [CREEK]? [WITH THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] Yeah we'd swim down at the crick and have some pecan pie.

Oh, yeah!

Oh, of course.

Yes!

My mom's from [DIFFERENT SOUTH TEXAS COMMUNITY NAME].

And my dad is from [DIFFERENT SOUTH TEXAS COMMUNITY NAME]. And we would go down to the [IMMITATING THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] ranch.

[IMMITATING THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] and play by the crick. We catch fireflies. We do all the stuff that was on there.

[LAUGHING]

[IMMITATING THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] Tyler, Texas. It had all the southern places. [LAUGHING]

Thats so funny.

Yeah.

Uhuh.

Yeah I don't know that I have much of an accent.

Yeah. But sometimes you know you can fall into especially when you talk to your friends that are from Tyler, Texas, and you just start [IMMITATING THICK SOUTHERN ACCENT] talking like them or, my aunt that was from [WEST TEXAS REGION COMMUNITY NAME], Texas, [WEST TEXAS COMMUNITY NAME] for all reasons. [USING NORMAL ACCENT] She would say all those, anyway.

Cool.

Alright!

How many people do you have to interview?

I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study.

You're welcome.

Yeah! My father, um, did his medical school, um... my father's medical school was paid for by the United States Air Force in [MIDWEST STATE], where I was born. And so when it- when he was finished with medical school, he owed the Air Force time and- and so for his residency, he was sent to [AIR FORCE SURGICAL CENTER] in [COMMUNITY NAME], Texas on [AIR FORCE BASE NAME] when I was two.

So I can speak about [COMMUNITY NAME], probably more expertly than [ADJACENT COMMUNITY NAME] specifically. So I would say [COMMUNITY NAME], to me has felt like a, um, a very big, small town. And what I mean by that is that it, um, there is, I think, a sense of community and, and connectedness that's maybe different from other major cities that are more cordoned off. If you live in - at least my understanding is you live on one side of Houston, you may never make it to, if you live in Katy, you may- may never make it to Clear Lake, whereas in [COMMUNITY NAME] growing up, I knew... I played sports. And so I would literally play tennis on the very north side of [COMMUNITY NAME], and other times be down on the far east side, or the far south side. So I feel like it's a very connected, um, community for being a big city.

Well, obviously it's grown, um... You know, honestly, I'm trying to think what- how has [COMMUNITY NAME] changed? Well, it's expanded past [LOCAL ROAD NAME], that would be the biggest thing. When I was growing up, everything was contained, um, mostly within [LOCAL ROAD NAME]. And then it expanded a little past to be, you know, beyond [LOCAL ROAD NAME], outside of that loop a little bit. And then now, of course, it's exploded past that, um... I think that... I don't- I honestly, I wouldn't say that's it's even changed that much, to tell you the truth. I feel like it's held a lot of its character and its culture.

Yeah, I think so.

I think that is, I would also say that, um, while [COMMUNITY NAME] is not the most multicultural city, in terms of, uh, um, the amount of cultures - although there, there's the [CULTURAL INSTITUTION NAME], so obviously, if you want to go find - there, there are many cultures represented in the citiz- city of [COMMUNITY NAME], but not in such mass numbers, that they would be obvious to somebody who's living here, having said that, I think our proximity to, um, Central America, to Mexico and Central America has, um, has created a space where, um, the Latino culture is prevalent, and I think that's really one of, at least for me growing up, was one of the great blessings of living in that city is that I was in a community of people all of the time, whose heritage and whose skin colour, um, and whose experiences were different than mine being a kid whose family was from the Midwest, um. And that was not unusual or, um, odd. It just was. And to me, I think that's an incredible, um, blessing of, or one of the great benefits of living in, in [COMMUNITY NAME], specifically. Um, I think the cost of living in [COMMUNITY NAME] has been lower. Now, that comes with some negative sides related to the fact that I think that there's some poverty issues and other things that need- that are being addressed and need to be addressed. So there's the other side of the coin of lower cost of living, um, the other side of that, but I do think it has a lower cost of living. And, um, and I think that's attractive, um, to families who are coming here. I think that it, um... I think the town draws families, maybe more so than it even draws, um, kind of a single population. And so while there's - maybe that's a negative, depending on who you are - I do think it's an attractive place for families to come and raise their children. So, I think those are some of the- the positiv

My understanding is that - from what I've read most recently - is that [COMMUNITY NAME] is one of the most economically segregated cities in, in the country, and that demo- that particular data point to me was interesting, because I know there are other, um, major cities that have significant, um, impoverished communities. And as I dug into that information a little bit what I realized is that in other major metropolitan areas, oftentimes they're independent cities within that city, so you call it the Dallas metroplex, but really, it's Garland or Mesquite, or you know, all these separate towns. Or in New York City would be The Bronx or Brooklyn or Manhattan specific, those are boroughs, not so much cities. But - [PERSON'S NAME], just one sec, I'll be with you - But in [COMMUNITY NAME], it's- it's one city for the most part. And so I think that's why, whereas those - if this makes sense - that, um, Oakland would be considered separate from San Francisco, two different cities, but [COMMUNITY NAME] is one large footprint of one singular city. So there's, um. So that's why I think they hit that data point as being the most, um, economically segregated country - uh, city, major city in the country. I think that's a real negative of our community that there is, um, you can only drive 15 minutes within the same city limits and have very different economic experiences. And that's really, I think you see it in, um, free lunch programs, etc. in the school setting. I mean, that would be a place where you would notice it, specifically, the percentage of kids just 10 minutes apart, um. Who the percentage of kids that might be in, uh, qualifying for free and reduced lunch on a school campus and just 10 minutes away, or maybe 15... maybe that's 98%? And over here, just three, and it's just 10, 12 minutes, and... in the same city limits. So. I think that's a negative. For sure. That's interesting. I hadn't heard about that statistic before. Yeah, might be worth looking into. Yeah, I mean, I'm speaking a little bit about what I a little bit know.

Right. Well, and- yeah. And there's obviously there's a great - not a great. There's a very interesting, um, uh, legal judgment or a, um, court judgment related to [AREA OF CITY], the, the [COURT CASE TITLE] education spending fight that happened. This was, I don't know how many decades ago, but [AREA OF CITY] was one of the named, um, entities in that- in that particular argument. It was maybe [PARTIES IN COURT CASE] or something. Interesting. Yeah

Roles and relationships?

Yes, obviously. Yeah, I've, um. Well, I have been involved, um... Just in a - well, it was my job. it wasn't just charitable - but obviously very involved in, um, church, in my church community in the city. Um, my family, I have lived in the same... basically other than college and a couple little stints in my first years of marriage, um, and single life, I've- I currently live where I grew up. I live next door to my parents on one side and a couple siblings on the other. So - and that was a purposeful choice as an adult to live, um, kind of multi generationally, um, near family? Um, and, and, point me back to the question, what was it? Oh, roles and relationships. Yes, I got sidetracked by my family. So I'm a daughter. I'm a mother. Um, I'm not yet a grandmother. Um, I've worked in school administration. I, um, I've had leadership roles at different times at churches and different things. But I'm, I'm not a community leader in the sense of having an- I'm not an elected official or anything like that.

School administrator. Um... right now I'm in charge of operations of a K-12 private school. So I handle IT and facilities and... safety and security and nursing and all of those things, HR.

I have, I've done, I've been a teacher, I've been... in advancement, I had a brief stint as the head of, head of the school during COVID. And so, I've done a few things.

I have seen a few things.

What I'm doing? You know, having not ever - it's one of those things, oftentimes people say to me, um, and we just had this - I just had this conversation out in the parking lot with someone - that, um, the degrees of separation for me at times seemed kind of small. Like, um, I can play a bit of a name game with people who might know me or know someone in my family. And oftentimes what I say is when you've lived in the same spot for 50, now four years, and actually, I've lived in the same property since I was 13. So 40, 43 years, I've lived literally other than, again, dorm rooms and a few apartments. But for the most part, I have lived in the exact same spot for 43 years. And when you do that, um, the world starts circling around you a little bit, right? Um, it- it's not so much that they're circling around me because of me, um. It's just when you're static, you, um... the connections begin to happen, um. And... I think also being involved in this educational movement that I'm a part of here at this school, this particular kind of K-12 school as well as the ministry I was involved with, um, it's Young Life, in [COMMUNITY NAME], there are a lot of relational connections as well, between those - those communities tend to be sort of small, and, um - small and big. Just a lot of familiarity.

You do. The circling up.

It's true.

Yeah!

Yeah, um, I got into this role because my children, um... well, we decided to bring our children here. So we've been commuting from [COMMUNITY NAME] to [ADJACENT COMMUNITY NAME], um, since 2002. And it was a tiny little school with like, 30 students. And we had a couple friends that we trusted and loved and respected who had began to talk about this kind of school. And it resonated the kind of school it was, while it was a new concept in terms- in terms of title, it very much resonated with the kind of education my parents sort of supplemented, while I went to the public school in [COMMUNITY NAME]. And so it sounded very attractive and we came here as parents and then after a number of years was asked if I would consider stepping into an employment role in the classroom. And then after that, it's just been meeting needs as they come up. Um, as the- as the school has needed me to do different things. I've leaned toward that, even if I'm not necessarily the expert, I've learned on the job.

No, actually - so I've been working here since 2006.

So parents 2002 to 2006, and then employee 2006 on.

There you go. Your whole - almost your whole life.

Yeah. So for me currently, um... because it's operational things. Um, that involves making sure facilities and... just the physical plant is in good shape. It's not- I- I do have people who work for me, direct reports that are- that deal specifically with IT and facilities and those kinds of things. But I try to get here early, um. My boss actually said, "Are you first in and last out?" and I nodded and said, "I don't have to be, but I tend to be." So I'll get here early and make sure that, uh, doors that need to be unlocked are unlocked, and that the campus looks,um, ready for 700 students to show up. And... so that - so then I spend my day either thinking ahead, um, vision casting and planning for what it is that makes this place run well, or solving problems. Those are kind of the two categories. I'm either solving a current problem and- or I'm thinking ahead to... how to avoid them or make this place physically run better. I have a staff of - I have about nine direct reports.

They have. Yeah, I've been in the classroom. But yeah, I've actually had a bunch of different roles. And so it helps me understand the needs of teachers and the needs of administration, etc.

Um... well, I think that, uh, it depends probably who you ask, but, uh…

Oh, to me, okay. Um... it means that I have a lot of responsibility. Um... it means that I have a privilege of getting to work with a whole lot of really great people, um. It means that, um, I'm stewarding something that's valuable, um. It means that I work 12 months out of the year and not nine or 10, like a teacher, um... Yeah, I think it probably means that there's some level of respect. But with that comes a great responsibility.

I think for me, it is, um, I feel most at home when I'm responding to a need and making - and whether that's connecting, or bringing, maybe employing some diplomacy and I'm helping people - whether there's a, a strain between people and helping two different departments work well together or, um, recognizing where there might be a conflict and stepping into that and helping avoid a conflict. I think that's, that's a meaningful part of my job, um. I think, obviously, built into operations at a school is just supporting the good work that's happening in the classroom. I think that's really, really meaningful as well, having been a teacher. So I think both of those things. And also, I think there's something about being physically - like right now we're doing a whole big refresh and remodel. Unlike the classroom, which I've done, or unlike my role in ministry from before, where oftentimes the fruit of your labor, the things you're working on, you don't really see the results until later down the road when people like you become older and adults and you know, even like, "Ah, okay, so something that I did matters." Yes, I- in what I'm doing now, oftentimes, there's a much more immediate, um... gratification, like those buildings got painted, and I just saw that and I'm like, "That looks good. That looks great."

Yeah, doesn't it look good? We're getting there.

That's right, right? And you're like every time I leave, that's what we need. We need [INTERVIEWER] to move on.

Um, yeah. So I think that there's a couple things. One, um, in - in the kind of space we are, funding is always an issue. Like, um, you know, we're not, we're not, I don't have a steady stream of... I mean, you do have a budget. So there is a steady stream. But there's all- in a private environment, there's always a balance between tuition and budget. And so, it's not spreading taxable dollars across, you know, lots of people. And again, I'm not saying that in a public setting, that's not a same stress, I think it is because it's many more buildings and many more problems with more funders. But, um, it's the same public or private, that... limited resources. So limited resources is a challenge. Having said that, I know that I'm in a place where,um, it's not as limited as other places. And so, but just being mindful of, there's only this many dollars and everybody wants something bigger or better or fixed or new or cleaned, or, I got an email this morning that, uh - we just painted a room and the teacher said, "It looks fantastic. The outside of the door is great, but is the inside of the door getting done?" And nobody was being rude or ugly. But it's that like, "oh, well, not yet. Sorry." Um, so I think that's a challenge. I think also, um, there's many, many opinions in a school setting, um, about what's the most important thing, um, and you've got all the employees, you've got your supervisors, the people who you work with, but then you also have hundreds of parents who have opinions. So all of that presents challenges.

Yes, lots of things.

Yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

One to four. Okay.

Okay.

Yes, four. Do I consider myself to be an American? Yes, I am an American. Four. Is that what I'm supposed to be answering? A number?

Okay. Mm-hm. Yes, I am an American citizen, and I completely agree with that.

Three... I wasn't born here. So I don't know if that- that's probably what I would say.

I'm a resident but I wasn't born here. So I don't know if that disqualifies me on some level.

Right, mm-hm.

Um... I'm gonna go with the first one. American first, Texan second.

True or False? Am I supposed to say true or false, or agree or disagree?

To be a true Texan, you have to be able to speak English?

Oh, one. I don't agree with that.

One.

"In my community, you can do anything you want and get everything you need, even if you don't speak English?" I'm gonna go with two. I don't... I mostly don't agree with that. Is that right, two is mostly don't agree? I don't think you can get everything you-

I somewhat Disagree. I disagree with that. Yeah, I think it's difficult if you don't speak English.

Yeah.

Yeah.

"In my community life has been pretty stable?"

Three.

Yeah, we talked about growth, um... Yeah, I don't know that I have anything to add beyond the question from before.

It's alright.

Absolutely. Love it.

I - I'm answering it as an adult, not as a kid, I would have- it's probably different than what I would have said. But I actually do believe that one of the best parts is being able, is on the daily interacting with people that don't necessarily - haven't shared your heritage or don't, maybe don't share your language and maybe don't share your skin color. I think that's a real benefit for our young people in [COMMUNITY NAME].

No?

I think there's an intentionality. There's kind of this phrase "Pudo [COMMUNITY NAME]" like, or the [LOCAL SPORTS TEAM], there's a number of cultural things that are sort of anchors for our community, whether it's, you know, "[CITY SLOGAN]", "Go [LOCAL SPORTS TEAM] go", "Pudo [COMMUNITY NAME]", is a phrase that you hear about, there are just these sort of cultural anchors that, um, get set enough around the city of [COMMUNITY NAME], that sort of keep this grounding of what the culture is about.

Yeah. I don't know that... Dallas, or Houston, or others maybe have that same kind of thing? I don't know.

Yeah. So I could add to that, that I don't think [COMMUNITY NAME] has been the, um, we don't have an international airport in this - Well, I'm sorry. It is international.

It goes to Mexico City, I think and maybe, there may be another flight out now. But it- [COMMUNITY NAME] hasn't had the same draw economically like Austin and Dallas and Houston, Houston for energy and shipping and other things, Dallas, I guess for banking and some things, and then Austin for tech. [COMMUNITY NAME] hasn't had that same draw, um, in terms of nationwide industry. Texas has from a taxation perspective. But [COMMUNITY NAME] hasn't necessarily had that - in part because of transportation. And so I think that has sort of helped keep it the same. And there's a negative side to that. But if you're talking about keeping the culture the same, that's part of it. In terms of just sort of a hometown, appreciate the, the heritage and the cultural heritage and all that.

Well, oddly enough, let me think... mine's a college team. I probably root for the Longhorns the most, to tell you the truth, but..

Yeah. If you're in [COMMUNITY NAME], it would be the [LOCAL SPORTS TEAM] but honestly, I- I'm not. I don't care that much. I would say anything- anything UT, Longhorns.

I think the Longhorns- other than- I mean, they, they actually have had a great season. You know, UT wins, oftentimes wins that, uh... the cup, I can't remember what it's called, but the, it's not the Ryder Cup, that's something else.

No, it's this cup that is the most state championship, I'm sorry, national championships. And UT and Stanford kind of toss back and forth between the two. And it isn't necessarily because UT's football, one of the big few win the national championship, although volleyball did this year, but they win a lot of other things like tennis or rowing or whatever. So UT is always up in, the in the mix of that. They do well.

Well, as a... Yeah, as a- as a mom slash wife, I do chores all the time. But yes, as a kid, we had to. Mm-hm.

Well, I'm trying to think. I mean, probably the one that I least liked to do was folding and putting away clothes. Actually, I'd say I still hate that. I still hate folding and putting away clothes. It's probably not the worst in terms of grossness and things like that, but I can clean the toilet fast. But folding and putting up clothes just takes time.

It just is what it is.

Um, you know, I never minded, um, I also hated - Yeah, I never minded... I never minded like cleaning, um, like cleaning the bathrooms or things like that. I never minded the actual cleaning. You know, there was something that felt sort of "the end" about it. So I didn't mind that. I don't mind cleaning.

That could be a little worse. I did have my own bathroom - well, I shared it with my sister. But my brothers were on a different part of the house.

More I got caught, um... Sort of when I got asked not so much about chores, but more like Do you have, the question of "do you have any homework?" And I would have this sort of... answer that was non committal under my breath that sort of wasn't a no and a yes. And every once in a while there would be the "I didn't quite catch that. Is that a yes or a no?" And I wouldn't lie to my parents, but I was doing my best to sort of hedge, um... I mean, yeah, I - So regularly, my mom, um, my mom, if my mom did fold the laundry, she would put it on the stairs for us to take up. And then after about a week, um, if it was still there, we would begin to hear about it. That was one I still have memories of like, "How many times [COMMUNITY MEMBER'S NAME] are you gonna step over that laundry? How many times? You just step right over it, just keep going." So.

Oh, not at all. I think- I mean, obviously, it depends on what... boy and what girl. Um, and I mean, I think shared interests can cross genders, uh, easily. Some of my best friends in college... and in high school were guys. So it just, you know, it depends on which- if you have shared interests, whether it's sports, or academics, or... whatever it is. No issue.

[SIGHS] You know, um, I'm sure that has happened. I can't necessarily think of a time, uh... Most of the time - so I have a story from when I was younger, um. This one's a little traumatic, not really. But, um, I - and, and it's shaped how I talk about people. And so I'm pretty careful. And so if I have told stories, when I'm telling a story about someone, and they're behind me, and I didn't know it, it would have been funny or positive, it wouldn't have been negative most - most of the time, because when I was in elementary school, one time, I was talking about a girl that I didn't so much care for. And, um, either she overheard me or her mom did, and her mom called me.

Called me.

I know. I feel like she might've been a teacher at our school too, elementary school. But she - they lived in our neighborhood. And she called me and let me know that that was inappropriate, and it hurt her daughter's feelings. And I am such a people pleaser, and such a rule follower. It was embarrassing, and shocking, and devastating, and all the things. And it has stuck with me for my whole life. So I'm very careful about storytelling about people. So.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, she wasn't ugly, she just told me the truth. Like what I did hurt somebody's feelings, and it wasn't appropriate. And I'm like, she wasn't wrong, um. And so, it was, yeah, I was glad to learn that lesson at, you know, eight years old, as opposed to 10 or 12, or 15, or 40, when it would have been much worse.

I think everybody appreciates their own decade, um. And I was... kind of young. I mean, I'd just graduated from college, was doing this ministry that hangs out with high school kids a lot. So there's some iconic things from that time for sure. But... I don't think so. I don't even like it. My era would have been the 80s. I far prefer a couple other decades. Like I really like the 70s, um, some things from the 60s. So no, I'm not gonna go with the 90s.

Oh. Maybe, yeah.

Yeah, sure!

Yeah.

So they want me to read something?

Okay. I can do it.

Here we go. I've lived in Texas all my life. I was born in Titus County. And when I was five, we moved to a farm near White House which is southeast of Tyler. I liked growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse, climb trees, or hike down to the creek to fish or swim. One time we tied a rope to a limb of a cypress tree and would swing out wide over the swimming hole and drop into the water. I'd pretend to be Tarzan swinging on a vine. In the spring I'd fly kites and on summer nights we'd catch fireflies, but we called them lightning bugs. Once in a while we'd have fights with corncobs or pine cones. In the winter we would build a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was a live wire. When I was 19 I went to work in Dallas at a Firestone Tire store. I didn't like city life, and for a long time I'd go home every chance I got. Mama would always cook my favorite foods: fried okra, hopping John - that's rice and black eyed peas - and pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After Daddy died, Mama sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of here in the city, but my wife and kids don't understand me when I gripe about city life and talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says, "Daddy, that's crazy. I'd just die if I had to live on a farm." I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing, but I try to make sure we don't lose touch with our roots. While we may live in a city, I want my kids to have a good feeling about the land, have a sense of place and take pride in being Texans. If they lose our ties to the land, the price of progress is too high.

You're welcome!

Okay.

I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this interview.

I was born in [COMMUNITY NAME] in 1945. So I was just born here at the [COMMUNITY HOSPITAL], downtown.

[COMMUNITY NAME] has a very diverse community...uh. Multiple ethnic origins of people, from Hispanic to black to uh all over the country they come, you know, and that was uh, since the beginning of time, because uh Texas in our location was uh a lot of people came here, uh through the years. We have Six Flags over Texas of course. So we have the Mexicans that came, the Spanish that came, the French that came and the- Can- from the Canadian islands, you know, [COMMUNITY NAME], was established by Canadian Canadian Islanders. So I'd say the diversity is one of the biggest and uh most inturg-, which makes our town very interesting. And at the same time, uh a community that seems to manage well with that there's not a lot of uh inter racial struggles that that that are common to some big cities like this. I mean, we have some problems when I'm sure uh. But overall, the diversity is very positive.

Oh, it's just grown. You know, when I was young, and *clears throught* born on the south, uh when we moved and lived on the southeast side of [COMMUNITY NAME], it was a small neighborhood. And uh there weren't freeways. There weren't malls, there were the only place my brothers and I had to go uh for entertainment was we would walk downtown or take the bus downtown nearby, and go to the [LOCAL BROADWAY THEATRE] for a movie or the [LOCAL THEATRE] or the [LOCAL MOVIE THEATRE]. And uh shop down there with my mom, the stores downtown. So since though, it's just expanded, where you know, when we moved, I was 16 when we moved to the northeast side of town. And then when there was the freeway that was built, 35. I thought we were going to the other side of the world, you know? So yes, it's the growth was th-the biggest thing. A-a-and then there's an adjustment to that uh, when you been used to growing up, and it being a smaller community. Now I see uh the challenges of a larger community and all the development, but I welcome it, it's good. It can't be you have to be positive about uh growth.

I think the strengths are that diversity, uh and so you get because you get a lot of uh-uh-uh different points of view, politically as well as uh domestically um. So those... What was the question? I'm sorry haha.

The strengths, the strengths. Yeah, those are the strengths. Yeah, the strengths I think, and too also the strings, I'd like to say is that we we tend in [COMMUNITY NAME] to try to get along with each other. You know, and our mayor, uh the mayor's we've had uh have been very good about trying to keep the community safe uh with our police force, as well, as well as uh without it being a hostile environment uh, so I think we have a very, we're like a big, small town still, in many ways. So that's the strength I think.

The weaknesses I would say is still the is there's a-uh big uh-uh difference in economic uh you know, the-the there's a lot of poor people on some parts of the town, who don't have the same kind of quality of life that other parts of town have, and other people. So I think that's the weakness we have is trying to help everybody achieve at least the same ability to uh uh succeed and have a nice home to live in, a nice community. Another weakness we have is crime. Because because of our I guess, some of the poverty areas and the low economic conditions, we do have a high crime area uh. That unfortunate, it's unfortunate. So I'd say yeah, the, the the economic uh differences and the crime are the, the probably the weaknesses.

The roles and relationships I have in the community *sniff*. Okay. Um I worked uh at [COMMUNITY UNIVERSITY] for many years, the University there. Um and that was uh a good experience because I was uh connected to the academic environment. And then um after that, I worked in the [COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CENTER] healthcare downtown, which is a hospital system. Uh so I had a lot of knowledge I learned from uh about the hospital setting. And now work for a surgery center, which also I'm learning uh there about ambulatory care. So my role and then when I first retired, I also volunteered at the [COMMUNITY INSTITUTE], where I did uh photographic scanning of their historic um photographs for I did that for about three years until the uh pandemic hit, and then they didn't allow their volunteers there anymore. So I had a lot of very close ties to San Antonio, in the communities, academically in the hospital setting, and I guess in the cultural world, you know, with the Institute, and also getting my degree in photography at at [LOCAL UNIVERSITY]. That connection, you know, with the artistic world, I guess.

My relationships with my family, of course, right. That's what we're talking about now haha. Uh I was married to an architect and uh for 24 years, so uh and he was born and raised in [COMMUNITY NAME]. So my connection, uh so we had a similar, you know, ties, you know, when we met, and then we had two children, and now they're grown and have three grandchildren, and they're grown. So I have all those connections that I would not give up, give anything to have to have those connections.

My ex husband, we divorced, unfortunately, after 24 years, but he passed away. And my son and daughter, uh my son lives in [COMMUNITY NAME] with me, and then my daughter lives in [NEIGHBORING COMMUNITY NAME] and that's where she raised her three, grand-, her three children. And now they're kind of moving out uh. My grandson is in [COMMUNITY NAME] now, as a police officer, and um my middle granddaughter [GRANDDAUGHTER NAME] is in [TEXAN CITY], but her and her husband are going to be moving back to [COMMUNITY NAME] soon. And then uh [OTHER GRANDDAUGHTER NAME] my other granddaughter uh is going to school at [UNIVERISTY NAME] is her- she just finished her first year.

Right now I work part time at uh for the [COMMUNITY ORTHAPEDIC GROUP], which owns uh two surgery centers and multiple clinics. So I do the credentialing ehh at the [COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CENTER]. It's part time work now since I've retired, it's about 26 hours a week that I work.

I think because I feel so very s-much dedicated to [COMMUNITY NAME] because I've grown up here and I have a very um strong feeling about what a great place it is to live. You know, and so and knowing the history of [COMMUNITY NAME] some of it because of I've been around for a while and I'm seeing the growth etc. Like we talked about. I've seen the political changes. I've seen some other changes. So yeah, that those connections I have with [COMMUNITY NAME], how very much uh make me feel much more connected to my jobs here and everything, everything I've done from school to jobs. So, yeah. Good question.

Well, I was a uh medical staff coordinator for 21 years at [COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CENTER]. So with that experience uh um, coordinating uh medical staff meetings and minutes. And then while I was in that department, I also learned about credentialing because that we would help with the credentialing as well. That gave me that experience, to now after I retired to have a part time job as a credentialing person in-at the surgery center.

Uh well, are you mean, like this recent job. uh five years, this next month, August in August, it'll be five years at the surgery centers. And like before, that was 21 years, and that I was at [COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CENTER]. And in between, I worked eight years in a home office for a uh woman who had her own business credentialing, uh business. So

uh go in and you're sitting in front of two computer screens most of the day [LAUGHS]. And you are checking uh constantly on a keeping the doctors, the allied health professionals, the employees, all of their credentials have to stay current. So once a month I run and expireables report and those things that are expiring, I obtained from them, or I can get them off the websites many times and then I update them in the system. Aaand uh every two years the allied health and the doctors get reappointed. I send out applications for that via Docusign. And if new providers want to apply for privileges, I uh I send them the application for that via Docusign. And process all of that, meaning you verify all their credentials before they come on board. So that's just in a nutshell, there's a lot of other things I do [LAUGHS]. They throw me a little bit everything.

you feel very connected to uh an important aspect of life, which is uh health care. And uh you see, I see people coming in and out of the surgery center all the time that are being helped by our doctors and our allied health professionals, even even [FAMILY RELATIVE], who I ran into the other day she was coming out with facilities she had just gotten an injection in her knee that relieves her pain. And that relieves her pain for many many weeks uh. And then our doctors orthopedic surgeons replace uh hips, they replace all kinds of uh knees, shoulders, neck, cervical parts of the back to for people who are in a lot of pain, you know, from their uh injuries or sometimes just aging, you know? So it's a very I feel very good about being working at a facility that is helping people you know.

Oh [FAMILY RELATIVE] is uh my other grandma, my grandchildren's other grandmother. [FAMILY RELATIVE], she's awesome.

I like all of it. I like working in general. I like keeping busy. Uh I like using my mind at at something. So uh any kind of detail work. I'm on it. I like it. I like organization. So it gives me a sense of satisfaction to put order into chaos. I mean, yeah order out of chaos [LAUGHS].

Biggest challenges, maybe just making sure I get things d-done timely, [INAUDIBLE] because everything we have has to be done at a specific time because uh things expire and it we're accredited by [ACCREDIATION COMPANY] which is an accreditation. Our organization for ambulatory care centers, and we have to ensure that we meet their standards. So, if any, we have to keep all of the credentials current, we have to have reappointments that stay current. And there's dates on all of those, and you have to meet those dates. So I guess I submit this challenge.

Okay.

Four.

Four.

um, I think one, I feel well, I'm American first, and then Texan because that way, I feel like I could move out of Texas and I'd still feel connected to America. Okay.

I don't think you have to speak English. So what would be the choices? Number one?

I somewhat disagree with that. I mean, eventually it would be good for anyone who moves into America to learn the English language. But to first move here. No, they don't have to, you know?

Well, one, I don't think that's necessary.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's was three?

I think it's probably too because I think there's a lot of people who who don't I happen to know a lady at work doesn't speak English very well. And she cleans all the bathrooms. And I imagine she's not getting enough pay. You know, it's not fair. Go ahead.

In the last 40 years? Oh, I think a lot has changed. So I would, I would say number one, yeah.

And when you say com- this community.

Okay. That have changed in the la-

Repeat the question again.

The growth, probably we have a lot more immigrants moving in for sure. I mean, we're close to the border. And that's getting getting more and more volume of a Mexican people coming in. Uh so yeah, it's the growth uh which with the diversity of people uh

Yeah, I think it's getting more diverse. I see a lot of people from a lot of different other countries now than I used to or maybe just I'm out there and I see them, you know, uh more, but and then I guess the other changes uh our environment, which we haven't touched on this, you know, the quality of our air uh. We need to move, we need to improve on the quality of our air and uh support renewable energy. And I think the mayor and the city council people are working on that, to make that uh our quality of life still good for people health wise. You know?

Yes.

Now, not when I was a kid, right?

Well, gosh, when I was a kid, it was a lot of fun. We were outside all the time, you didn't have computers, uh and you had to make your own fun. So I think it was kind of I like that I grew up that way. Because we, we were very active, my brothers and I, because we were outside. We weren't a sedentary as I see younger folks now because they're with their devices all the time, not as much with their, with the activity out out in the world. We end them and we had to use our imagination. And when you had it, you couldn't just things just didn't, you just couldn't look up things real quick. You had to do a lot more research with its- we had encyclopedias that we would do our research papers on, you know, so it was very different. Because that's not to say, I think it's better now, though, with computers that you can look up and do research with websites and such. Uh but young people now I think maybe you need to maybe remember not to be so uh constantly tied to computers and phone devices. And to maybe be a little more aware of your surroundings sometimes.

We went to the movies downtown, and we went to uh up the street to uh the playground at the school where there were two schools not far from us. And they had big areas where you could we did our own, set up our own little baseball field and play baseball and neighborhood kids would join us. Uh like I say, and we just did activities outside. But mostly we didn't we didn't go out to eat. There wasn't fast food back then, fast food places. Uh so you know, we I just remember going to movie with movies with my brothers a lot. [LAUGHS] Not very exciting, [LAUGHS] right?

We didn't even go on vacations. Couldn't afford it [LAUGHS]. My parents couldn't afford vacations [LAUGHS].

The traditional way? I don't even know what the traditional way of life is. I think it's different for different people. I wouldn't I couldn't answer that. You know? I don't I don't. The traditional way?

It's changed. I mean, like, like, mom's, the man and the woman both have to work now. So when you both have to work outside the home, it's harder now for couples to have their kids taken care of. There's more daycare. How about meal preparation? There's a lot more eating out. Uh so in that sense that that tradition yeah is changing.

Spurs! [LAUGHS] How have they been doing lately? Uh I haven't been keeping up as much. I just know I like them. I couldn't answer that one. [LAUGHS] How well are they doing? [LAUGHS]

[DRINKS TEA] Mmm my mom and dad were taskmasters. We were very are a very very, very disciplined to do work around the house. I helped my mother clean the house every Saturday. I helped her cook, clean uh cook meals she she taught me to cook when I was 10 and younger. I was helping her when she went back to work. I was 10 I was helping her I would help start separate before she got home. So uh yep. And my brothers had to help my dad with yard work garbage stuff. We had to make our beds every morning before we left the house. We had to keep the house. We- my parents. I'm glad that we had that kind of discipline growing up though because that served me well as uh I think now you know as an adult.

Cleaning the toilets [LAUGHS], with Pine Sol.

I like to cook. You know I never mind cooking. Uhh just like my granddaughter now she likes to bake. I used to love to bake cakes.

Oh no. I was always a good girl. Uh I figured if I didn't do something right, I'd get punished. So [LAUGHS] I can't remember. Even lying or doing anything I wasn't supposed to do with with my parents. Because I mean that you know, my parents there was there was a price to pay. It wasn't like you got to make a choice on things. Or um do a timeout. No, you just got hit or whacked if you didn't do something right. [LAUGHS] No, they weren't mean No, they weren't abusive. It was just that's the way it was you just mind you, mind, you respected your authority. You respected your parents, you respected your teachers and everybody when you were a kid.

About the same [LAUGHS] I'm still doing the same thing. I'm still cooking. I'm still cleaning bathrooms. I still vacuum. So yeah. But about the same [LAUGHS]. I guess it's easier now though, because uh we have washers and dryers that are appliances now that are better. And we have dishwashers, you see that we didn't have dishwashers then. So it's not as hard. I can say that because of the the appliances. So

I think boys and girls can be friends. I mean, I was friends with my brothers. Um and I I've had men friends now as an adult. Yeah, so they're there. It's very possible. It's usually depends on uh the man because um a lot of men maybe don't have that kind of thinking. But there are men out there that do and they they respect women, and they appreciate a platonic relationship. So yeah, I think it's very fascinating. Tom. Tom was, Well, Tom was a friend and he still is we email each other. He was He is the at the [COMMUNITY INSTITUTE]. He was the head archivist there photo archivist. And he was in charge of all the special collections. He is still there and going through some changes with the Institute now. They're they're moving him out to another location. And they're probably going to take down the institute. And they're going to rebuild a whole new museum, state of the art.

Apparently, it had to be done because they got community input. And I read a lot about it. And they put me in my input. They had three choices either to keep the institute like it was, but it couldn't be accredited as an by the museum. It couldn't be an accredited museum because it wasn't up to code. And it was just impossible monetarily to change it. It was such a I guess an overwhelming task to do that. The end the second choice was to move everything out and relocate in the hemisphere plaza area in another location, or don't rebuild a whole new place. So I think it'll, it'll, time will tell if they keep if they make it really great. Like it was even better or keep the out back buildings, locate them somewhere as well. It can be really great. So we'll see. We'll see how it plays out.

When I became a volunteer? Well, originally uh, I met him. When I had printed my grandfather's negatives uh. He was a commercial photographer, [FATHERS NAME]. And he and his wife together, worked as commercial photographers in the 20s. And the 30s. And grandma, Nellie his- he passed away when he was just 47. From a heart attack, and then grandma left me all the negatives when she passed away. But before that, when I was in school at UTSA, and doing my my fine art degree in photography, I started printing her the negative she'd let me have and use. And uh by the time I got into my early 40s, I had finished printing all of them. And there was a lot of them like 75-80 8 by 10, negatives. And I, later on, I thought, what can I do with these, they're beautiful, and I thought I need to show them. So I looked up uh the institute objects and cultures, and met Tom, then I went there with the photographs and showed him. And that's how I met Tom. And eventually, I had an exhibit at the institute.

Of my grandfather's work. Mhm. That was in 2002 uh. When uh [GRANDSON'S NAME] was just uh two, and [GRANDDAUGHTER'S NAME] was on the way. And I had an exhibit, then I've just show you all, I have a whole collection of the prints. I'll have to show them to you.

Not to my knowledge that could have happened, but not to not that not to my knowledge? Wow, that would be depending on what you were saying. Yeah. It could be good or bad. That's an interesting question. [LAUGHS]

The 1990s I think it was in the 80s that they had the the late 70s and 80s. To me, there's a music I relate to. I know there's probably good music in the 90s. But I relate more the 80s. So I wouldn't call it the the best era.

Well, of course, you had the Beatles coming out you had uh all kinds of vocal groups that just uh it was the era of I'm trying to think of it of course rock and roll started. You know that music, you know? Yeah, then and later on the Eagles, you know, that group. And Billy Joel, you know, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, you know, all of those people, great music, you know, Carole King. [LAUGHS] I could go on and on.

Sure.

Okay, I've lived in Texas all my life. I was Born in Titus County, and when I was five, we moved to a farm near White House, which is south east of Tyler. I like growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse, climb trees or hike down to the creek to fish or swim. One time we tied a rope to a limb of a cypress tree and would swing out wide over the swimming hole and drop into the water. I pretend to be Tarzan swinging on a vine. The spring. I'd fly in the spring at fly kites and on summer nights we'd watch fireflies, but we call them lightning bugs. Every once in a while we'd have fights with corn cobs or pine cones. In the winter we'd build a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was a live wire. When I was 19 I went to work in Dallas at a Firestone Firestone Tire store. I didn't like city life. And for a long time I go home every chance I got. mama would always cook my favorite foods. fried okra, Hoppin'John, that's rice and black eyed peas and pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After daddy and mom after daddy died and mom sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of here in the city. But my wife and kids don't understand me when I gripe about city life and talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says Daddy, that's crazy. I just die if I had to live on a farm. I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing, but I try to make sure we don't lose touch with our roots. While we may live in a city, I want my kids to have a good feeling for the land. Have a sense of place and take pride in being Texans. If they lose our ties to the land, the price of progress is too high.

I don't. It was great.

I consent for the study.

Yes. 

My parents moved me down here. We moved on here. When I was two. 

I love it. I love. Lived by the river. And the river [NAME OF RIVER].

It was small. Texas town. Since the university has moved to [COMMUNITY NAME], it has really changed. 

[LOCAL COLLEGE]? Uh. The young people that come to the community have really upgraded the small little town with their modern views. And I think that's good. 

That uh while they're trying to cater to the university students, they kind of forget the people that lived here before. They kind of cater just to the university.

Well, I worked as a nurse in this community for over 30 years, worked at the hospital. We're in a mental health unit, worked in a psych unit. I have friends that work with me and health care. Church member joined with a school with my kids in the ROTC in the band, football game football team.